The Merriest of Christmases: Teen
by White-Knight-1988
Summary: During a trip to the mountains with their friends for the holidays, Tommy and Kimberly grow closer and are forced to evaluate the direction their relationship is heading in. Unforutnately, they only have a week to do so. - Teen Version
1. Chapter 1

_**Title: The Merriest of Christmases**_

_**Summary: Every year, during the week before Christmas the Rangers all get together to celebrate the holidays with each other. For seven years this has been their tradition, and for just as long Tommy and Kimberly have had a little tradition of their own. Unfortunately, this year brings confliction to their tradition, making them both wonder if the path they're going on is the right one.**_

**__**

A/N 1: Just to let you know, the talented Cathy from the Perfect Chemistry is going to be doing some companion art for this piece. As soon as it has been completed I will let you all know and post a link to where you can find it on my profile page.

A/N 2: Also, this story is going to be posted in two versions, one that is Teen and one that is Mature. Obviously, the Mature version will contain elements of a more explicit, adult nature (I.e., sex for those who can't read between the lines LOL).

_**Timeline: Takes place the year after Dino Thunder**_

_**Rating: T (a mature version to this story will be posted as well)**_

_**Chapter: 1/5**_

_**Original Posting Date: December 1, 2008**_

--

_Friday, December 16, 2005_

_4:30 pm, Pacific Standard Time_

_Reno, NV_

Layer after layer of beautiful, fresh, white powder covered the ground on this particularly chilly mid-December afternoon. The internal thermometer of a nearby black Jeep Grand Cherokee currently announced the temperature as twenty-six degrees, causing the driver to shiver slightly even as he sat wearing multiple garments with the vehicle's heater at near full power.

Parked just outside the main entrance to the Reno/Tahoe Airport in Nevada, twenty-eight year-old Tommy Oliver tapped his thumb against the steering wheel impatiently as he waited for his guest to arrive. The plane was running late, of that he had already been informed. How late, though, was another issue entirely.

Unfortunately, it wasn't like he could have just stayed at home and left later to compensate for the plane's delayed arrival. As it stood, he was well over five-hundred miles from home himself. And since he'd chosen to drive on this trip, his own departure from his home in Reefside had been planned so as to coincide with the exact time the plane had originally been scheduled to land. Basically, until his companion showed up he was stuck.

Letting out a sigh, he reclined in his seat and closed his eyes as music from his iPod played through the car's speaker system. A few minutes later, literally just seconds away from dozing off, he was jolted back to life when he heard a rapping noise on the passenger side window.

Even with his agitation at their current tardiness, Tommy was all smiles when he saw the bundled up form of Kimberly Hart standing outside his car wearing a heavy black parka, a soft pink stocking cap atop her head, and a matching scarf around her neck. She looked so darn cute that the former leader of the Power Rangers couldn't help but stare at his friend/ex-girlfriend for a few moments.

Then she rolled her eyes at him. "You gonna help me or what?" she asked, loudly enough to penetrate the glass and space between them. Shaking his head clear, Tommy flashed a quick and apologetic smile before turning to get out of the car. Racing around the vehicle he found her standing there with an impish grin on her face as she held up a cardboard tray from the airport Starbuck's for him to see. "Gotcha your favorite; triple shot vanilla latte."

"You're the best," Tommy breathed, pecking a kiss to her cheek as he moved to take the duffel bag and backpack from around her shoulders.

"You tell me that every Christmas," Kimberly retorted with a laugh, giving Tommy a sly wink.

Despite the playful nature of her statement, it was one that had Tommy swallowing the lump in his throat even after seven years of Christmases with Kimberly. "And every Christmas I mean it more than the year before," he countered, his voice a near whisper as he turned and started towards the trunk of his SUV.

Less than five minutes together and they were already starting down a path he wasn't sure that he wanted to follow this year, even though he knew he probably would end up doing so regardless of how hard he tried not to. It was as inevitable as waking up every morning and wishing for more than the week he got to spend with her each year.

"How was the drive?" asked Kimberly, slowly walking towards him.

"Long," Tommy answered, sharing a laugh with her as he opened the trunk door. "How was your flight?" he continued, carefully setting her bags down in between his own and a pair of wrapped packages.

"About the same; would've been a lot better if we hadn't gotten get delayed in Dallas for an hour," Kimberly replied, shrugging as Tommy nodded. Removing his cup from the tray, she waited until he had closed the trunk door before offering it to him.

Tommy took the cup with an appreciative smile and then indulged in a long drink that immediately began to warm his chilled body. "Thanks," he murmured, Kimberly nodding. "You ready to go?"

"Yep," Kimberly answered simply, turning for her side of the car as Tommy started towards the driver's side.

Shortly thereafter they were off, driving down the wet Reno roads that had only this morning been cleared of the prior evening's snowfall. With her eyes staring out the passenger side window, it didn't take long for the former Pink Ranger's thoughts to drift to the man sitting next to her.

Less than ten minutes together and they were already starting down a path she wasn't sure that she wanted to follow this year, even though she knew she probably would end up doing so regardless of how hard she tried not to. It was as inevitable as waking up every morning and wishing for more than the week she got to spend with him each year. And what was worse, the looming future only had her heart racing even more due to the fact that they had spent the last Christmas apart from each other for the first time in nearly a decade.

"I missed you last year," she whispered, turning her gaze to Tommy as she reached out for his free hand.

Removing his eyes from the road for just a moment, Tommy looked at Kimberly and smiled. "I missed you too, Beautiful," he replied softly, earning a pleasantly surprised smile for his use of her old nickname. Raising her hand to his lips, he pressed a single kiss to the top of it. "Fortunately, there aren't any more crazy lunatics running around Reefside, Hell bent on restoring the planet to prehistoric times that I have to worry about anymore. At least not this year, anyway.

Kimberly chuckled at the way his last sentence had been spoken with the slightest, underlying inflection of hope in his voice. Though they all regarded their time served with nothing but the most pleasant of memories, no one cared about the Rangers more than Tommy did.

"You hoping for pink next?" asked Kimberly, laughing.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "The way I see it, I've still got blue to fall back on before I have to start tapping into the girl colors. Plus, I figure I could always get lucky and pull a Jason with gold or silver or something like that."

"Aww, come on, Tommy," Kimberly cooed, smiling the whole time. "I happen to think that you would look pretty damn hot in a pink spandex miniskirt."

Laughing, Tommy shook his head. "Kim, I don't think anyone could ever look as hot in a pink spandex miniskirt as you used to"

"Is that your way of telling me you want to try White Ranger/Pink Ranger role play this year?" asked Kimberly, expecting the bluntness of her question to make Tommy falter.

"It's only role playing if you aren't really the people behind the costumes, Kim, and we lived that role for almost three years," Tommy replied, giving her hand a slight squeeze. "On the other hand, I've still got all the old suits in my basement if you want to try something new next time. How about Blue Morphin' Ranger and Yellow Zeo Ranger?"

Kimberly burst into a fit of laughter at that. "Okay, first off, that would never work. Tanya's a good four inches taller than me. That skirt would probably go down to my ankles!" she replied, Tommy joining in her laughter as he envisioned Kimberly in Tanya's old uniform. "Second off, thinking about Billy and Tanya together is just…eww. I love them both to death, but they would _not_ be a good match for each other."

Tommy just shook his head, the quirkiness that was so much a part of the woman seated beside him leaving him at a loss for words. They drove in silence for quite some time after that, simply enjoying being in each other's presence while a quiet assortment of music from Tommy's iPod played in the background. It was nearly fifteen minutes later, when Kimberly heard the intro line to a song that made her eyes go wide, that the silence was finally broken.

_It's tearin' up my heart, when I'm with you…_

"Oh my God, Tommy; you really have NSYNC on your iPod, don't you?" she asked, giggling while Tommy shrugged and nodded as if it wasn't a big deal.

"What's so funny? It's a good song," Tommy countered.

"Oh, I agree with you completely on that one," Kimberly replied, smiling brightly. "I just wasn't really expecting you of all people to have it on your iPod. I think it's kind of cute, actually."

Tommy grinned subtly in Kimberly's direction. "I think _you're _kind of cute."

Kimberly's hands immediately flew up to her chest, clutching at her heart in mock offense. "Cute? Just cute?" she sputtered, Tommy shrugging his shoulders noncommittally. "But-but…I thought I was beautiful?"

"Eh, amongst other things," said Tommy casually, flashing her a quick smile as he reached out for her hand once again. It was a simple force of habit more than anything else; so rare were their get-togethers that he wanted nothing more than to be as close to her as was possible for the next seven and a half days.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" asked Kimberly, her interest peaking with every word escaping from lips of the man she desired more than the very air she breathed.

"Fishing for compliments will get you nowhere, Kimberly," Tommy chided teasingly. Folding her arms across her chest, Kimberly frowned in playful defeat. "All you need to know is that there isn't anyone else I'd rather spend the next week with besides you."

Smiling, Kimberly adjusted herself in her seat, wrapping her arms around Tommy's as she laid the side of her head against it. "The feeling is mutual, Tommy," she whispered, nuzzling his black thermal covered arm. "I hated not getting to see you last year."

"Me too," Tommy admitted through a sigh. "I can't believe it's almost been two years already."

"Crazy how time flies, huh?" Kimberly supplied.

Gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter, Tommy nodded. "One minute you think you've got it all figured out, then you wake up one morning and realize that life is about to pass you by whether you're ready for it or not."

"Wow," Kimberly breathed, a bit taken back. "Cynical much?"

Chuckling, Tommy shrugged. "Sorry, it's just," he started, pausing briefly to think about how he really wanted to finish that sentence. "At close to thirty years-old, it's easy to look back on life and realize where you made your mistakes; wish you'd done certain things differently and all that, you know?"

Not really knowing what to say, Kimberly just nodded and quietly snuggled up closer to Tommy. The wondrous scent of _Black_ by Kenneth Cole that clung to Tommy's shirt tickled her senses, making her sigh as she realized just how much she truly enjoyed being in his presence. It was like, when they were together, all the many stresses of her day-to-day life just seemed to disappear into a cloud of blissful unimportance.

"How far out are we from the house?" she asked softly, her eyes focused on the road in front of them.

Tommy did a quick look at where they were currently located on the freeway before answering. "About ten or fifteen minutes," he replied, Kimberly nodding slowly as he gazed down on her peaceful form with a fond smile. "I talked to Jason earlier and everyone but Billy and Trini is already there getting settled in. Rocky and Kat are cooking dinner for the group, and then we're going to some club or something like that."

"Sounds good," Kimberly murmured.

Seconds later her eyes drifted shut as the effects of her cross-country flight from Florida finally started to catch up to her. She was asleep shortly thereafter, the side of her head still resting against Tommy's arm as he navigated the streets of Tahoe City, a small mountain town on the California side of beautiful Lake Tahoe.

The driveway was soaked a dark shade of gray as Tommy pulled up to the house a little while later, parking behind Jason's Chevy Suburban painted a deep crimson with two thin gold stripes around the vehicle. He was hesitant to wake his sleeping companion; she just looked so damn peaceful that stirring her was something he did with slight regret.

"We're here," he murmured, pressing her shoulder lightly. "Time to wake up, Kim."

"Hmm?" Kimberly groaned, her eyes slowly fluttering open.

"We're here," Tommy repeated, already moving to get out of the car.

Kimberly let out a yawn, none too hurried as she stepped out onto the driveway and shivered. Even though they came here every year, spending fifty-one weeks in Florida made it damn near impossible for her to get used to this brand of cold. Unbeknownst to her as she looked around at the three-story home they'd all be sharing for the next week, Tommy's eyes were firmly trained on her while he went about unloading the back of his SUV.

He just couldn't seem to shake the word cute when describing how she looked. She was like the perfect little snow bunny; _his _perfect little snow bunny, at least for the next seven and a half days, anyway.

"Hey, Kim, I'm not gonna be able to carry all this stuff by myself, you know," Tommy called out. Turning back to face him, Kimberly smiled and nodded before walking over to the rear of the car. "Here," he continued, handing off both of their backpacks to her. "I'll get the two bigger bags."

"What about the presents?" she asked, throwing a backpack around each shoulder.

Tommy shrugged. "We don't usually do presents until the last night. I'll come back for them later on."

Kimberly nodded, motioning for him to go in front of her. "Age before beauty," she teased.

Furrowing his brow in confusion, Tommy chuckled. "Kim, that saying only applies if the person you're saying it to is older than you. Seeing as how you're February of '78 and I'm April '78, it just doesn't really work here."

Kimberly stared back at Tommy incredulously for a few moments before rolling her eyes. "Wow, way to kill my joke, Joke Sniper. Just hush and walk in front of me so I can stare at that ass of yours," she shot back, swatting his behind playfully.

"The white knight happily obliges his pink princess," Tommy retorted, bowing humbly.

The former Pink Ranger just laughed as Tommy started towards the house, a duffel bag draped over each of his shoulders. Wearing a mischievous grin she dropped to one knee, waiting until there was a little more than ten feet between them before standing back up.

"Hey, Tommy!" she called out.

By the time he'd turned around a sphere of pure white was heading straight for his face. With no time to react, he merely did his best to brace himself as he waited for the snowball to explode which it did on impact. Spitting out bits of snow and wiping the wet debris away, Tommy looked through wet eyes at a hysterically laughing Kimberly. With the snow surrounding her and the bright sun shining down on her from above she was simply…_glowing_.

"You're gonna pay for that," Tommy growled, dropping the bags on the walkway and immediately giving chase. Kimberly let out a playful scream as she let go of the backpacks and started to run around the other side of the car. "You're only making it harder on yourself by running away, Kim!"

Kimberly found this out after a few minutes of Tommy chasing her when he finally caught up. Lunging at her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and took them both down, landing in a soft patch of snow to the side of the driveway. Before she could defend herself Tommy was straddling her stomach with his fingers attacking her ribs.

Her body squirmed and writhed as Tommy tickled her relentlessly, causing her to cry out with howl after howl of laughter. "Tommy…please," she gasped, struggling to catch her breath. "Please…no more."

"Say you're sorry," Tommy demanded. Biting down on her bottom lip, Kimberly closed her eyes and shook her head defiantly. As a result, Tommy continued to needle her sides. "I can do this all day, Kim. Just apologize for hitting me with the snowball and I'm done."

"Fine…fine…just stop and I'll do it," Kimberly pleaded, Tommy smirking triumphantly as he finally relented his attack. Breathing heavily, she looked up into his eyes and swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, Tommy."

"For what?"

Kimberly smiled. "For not doing this an hour ago."

And with that she wrapped her arms around Tommy's neck and pulled him down to her, their lips meeting in a kiss that was two years overdue and showed in the way their mouths so hungrily attacked each other's. When the kiss broke moments later Tommy fell down next to Kimberly, laying beside her in the snow.

"That was nice," Kimberly purred, staring up at the sky through the sea of snowcapped fir trees that surrounded the house."

"Yeah, it was," Tommy agreed in a whisper, slowly pushing himself onto his side so that he faced her. "Hey, Kim?"

"Hmm?" she replied, turning her head.

Her answer came in the form of a handful of snow smashed right into her face by Tommy. And then he was gone, leaving Kimberly laying there in the snow as he sprinted towards the house with his victorious laughter playing tauntingly in her head. Wiping the snow from her face, Kimberly slowly pushed herself onto her feet and smirked at Tommy's form as it disappeared into the house.

Oh, he was _definitely_ going to pay for that one.

--

A half an hour or so later, after everyone had been greeted and catch-up had been played, Tommy stood alone inside the second-story bedroom that had been his for six of the last seven years. And though he'd never told Kimberly of this knowledge, he knew that she'd slept in that room instead of her own when he'd been absent the year before.

With a basketball game on ESPN playing in the background he quietly unpacked his duffel bag, putting some things in the oak dresser while he hung others in the closet. It was a spacious master-sized bedroom, tastefully decorated by the owner of the house in various shades of white and red.

The house itself was massive in every sense of the word; three stories with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and three common rooms on each floor. Aside from the kitchens—one on each floor—the entire layout of the house was done in groups of threes. It cost a pretty penny to rent the house for a week each year, but between the eleven who shared it, it was more than worth the price to be able to spend the holidays together.

Regardless of what they were doing, where they were living, or what directions their lives were going, getting together for this one week was something they always did. It was the one week a year where the only thing that mattered was enjoying the company of the few in their lives who shared that special bond.

A small part of Tommy was hurting as he went about putting his clothes away, knowing now how disappointed Kimberly had actually been when he'd missed last year's gathering. Though they weren't together in the traditional sense, far from it in fact, he cared far more deeply for Kimberly than he'd ever cared for any of his other girlfriends, of which he'd had his fair share. They spent one week together each year, but that one week, those short seven days, was just enough to keep his heart content until the next year.

After being forced to miss the get-together the previous year due to circumstances beyond his control, namely another tour of duty and a city that needed defending, Tommy had spent the last year missing more and more that intimate contact with Kimberly he so greatly desired. He wanted her more than words could say and, if he was truthful, needed her just as badly.

Tommy was in the midst of hanging a white dress shirt in his closet when he heard a knock at his closed door. "Come in," he called out, not missing a beat as he turned back to his bed to retrieve another shirt.

The door opened to reveal a now showered and changed Kimberly, her hair still slightly wet as she moved to enter the room. Even in a pink tank top and a pair of grey, loose-fitting sweat pants he found her very presence nothing short of intoxicating. Just being close to her made his heart beat a tad faster than normal, and where he would typically get distracted rather easily in casual conversations, he clung to every word that escaped her lips regardless of the topic that was being discussed.

Whether she knew it or not Kimberly had a profound effect on the man standing just feet away from her, barefoot in a pair of faded blue jeans and a white tee shirt as he turned and smiled at her unexpected but welcomed presence.

"What's going on in here?" asked Kimberly, closing most of the distance between them fairly quickly.

Tommy shrugged. "Just putting away some laundry; nothing too exciting," he answered with a laugh, turning to put another shirt in his closet. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much," said Kimberly, looking between Tommy and the clothes on his bed. "Need some help with that stuff?"

"If you don't mind touching my boxers then sure," Tommy replied, smirking at her.

"Wouldn't be the first time and I doubt it'd be the last," Kimberly fired back, winking as she picked up a pile of clothes and held them up to Tommy. "Top drawer, right?"

Caught off guard a bit, Tommy stared back at Kimberly in surprise for a few moments until he realized he was staring and then nodded. "Uh, yeah," he answered, shaking his head as he watched Kimberly walk over to the dresser across the room. "I, uh, I can't believe you actually remember what drawer I keep my underwear in."

Kimberly laughed as she opened the drawer and started putting the folded garments inside. "Oh, please; like you don't know what drawer I keep my panties in."

"Third from the bottom," Tommy replied without hesitation, chuckling.

"It's so weird that we know that," Kimberly laughed, Tommy nodding his agreement. Looking to her left, she saw the sliding glass door leading to the balcony and smiled. "Oh, I forgot you had one of the deck rooms."

Before Tommy could reply she was heading for the door and the gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe. The White Ranger just watched from afar, laughing when Kimberly took two steps outside, looked around for a few seconds, and then immediately ran back into his room.

"Okay, bad idea in bare feet and a tank top," she continued, shivering as Tommy looked up from his clothes and smiled fondly at her. "What?"

"Nothing," Tommy shrugged. "It's just…something as small as what you just did reminded me of why you're so special. You didn't even think about the fact that it's twenty-something degrees outside, you just went."

Kimberly furrowed her brow. "I can understand why that might make me an idiot, but how exactly does it make me special?" she questioned.

Tommy laughed. "Well, obviously it wasn't your head that told you to go outside. Your head would have told you that it was extremely cold, that you were wearing a tank top, and that you had no shoes on. Your heart was what told you to go outside and you listened to it. Most people are too afraid to listen to their hearts, but you do it enough for all of us. It's something I've always admired about you."

"Yeah, well, thanks. But for as sweet as that was, it has a tendency to not always lead to the best of decisions," Kimberly replied with a sigh, sharing a look with Tommy that said he knew exactly what she was talking about. She'd long ago admitted to Tommy that breaking up with him, an act where the heart had overpowered the head, was one of the worst decisions she'd ever made.

Sparing them from having to deal with any potential awkwardness, Tommy quickly and intentionally deflected the attention away from Kimberly. "So what are Rocky and Kat cooking us for dinner?"

"Rocky's making spaghetti and meatballs; Kat's handling the salad and I think she's making some garlic bread, too," Kimberly answered. Knowing that Tommy had changed the subject for her she smiled appreciatively, but he didn't seem to notice.

Tommy was too busy smiling dreamily as he remembered that he was going to be treated to the cooking skills of their resident professional chef for the next week. Rocky had discovered his love for cooking while in college, more out of necessity than anything else, and had taken it straight to one of the top culinary schools in California and eventually his own restaurantin Las Vegas, _Rocky's._

"Eww, that look on your face is totally weird," Kimberly continued, Tommy sneering as he stuck his tongue out at her, earning himself an eye roll in the process. "Oh how mature my little Tommy is."

"I know you are but what am I?" said Tommy with a dead serious expression. Laughing, Kimberly opened her mouth to reply only to have Tommy cut her off. "Remember, I am rubber you are glue; whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you."

"Ugh, you are _so_ lame," Kimberly grumbled teasingly, grabbing Tommy by his shirt collar and yanking his face to hers. "Just shut up and kiss me already."

Tommy obliged her happily and without question, his lips meeting hers as soon as the request had been made. From the moment their lips made contact Kimberly found herself unable to resist his touch. She'd come in with a plan, one to make Tommy pay for the snowball earlier, but now the only thing on her mind was indulging in the striking figure of masculinity whose hands were currently in the process of exploring her petite frame.

--

_Saturday, December, 17, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_7:40 am_

She ached.

Oh God, how her muscles ached so deliciously as she quietly slipped out of Tommy's bedroom dressed haphazardly in the little black cocktail dress she'd worn to the club the night before. With each passing step she was reminded of how long it had been since she'd had a man absolutely ravish her the way Tommy had done: pinned against his bedroom wall, and then again in the shower before dinner, and twice in his bed after they had all returned from the club.

He touched her in ways no words could ever describe, did things to her both physically and emotionally that no man had ever been able to. More so than anything else throughout the year she looked the most forward to the one week a year she got to spend with Tommy. So then why was she already running away so early in the morning?

Truthfully, though it might have seemed like she was running away, she wasn't at all. As it stood, this early morning abandonment was common place for the complex relationship she and Tommy shared; depending on whose room they'd stayed in the night before, the other would exit long before the rest of the house woke up to ensure that they were not discovered by one of the other former Rangers.

"_It's not a relationship, Kim,"_ the former Pink Ranger reminded herself silently as she made her way across the second floor to her own room, _"Neither of you have a clue what you're doing, but a relationship? Get real, girl. Tommy doesn't want that, and it wouldn't work even if he did."_

Her head throbbing from an alcohol-filled evening that had lasted well into the wee hours of morning, a somewhat disappointed expression crossed Kimberly's lips as she crept into her own bedroom. She was certain as she headed for the bathroom in search of some aspirin that whatever she and Tommy had together would never be more than a very complicated, one-week-a-year affair.

Deep down, though part of her longed for something more, she was okay with what they had. It wasn't perfect, but it was theirs, something she and Tommy shared that no one else could, and that made her love it all the more. For one week each year, she was the happiest woman on the face of God's green Earth.

Retrieving an empty glass from her sink, Kimberly ran the faucet and stuck the glass beneath its' cold stream as she opened her medicine cabinet. Moments later she had two aspirin in her system along with a silent prayer that her headache would disappear before too long. The last thing that she wanted was to be holed up inside half the day because it felt like a bomb had gone off inside her head.

"No more Jaeger Bombs with Rocky," she muttered, turning around to open the sliding door that fronted a shower with a tub large enough to sit three people comfortably. As soon as she turned the water on her hands flew to her head, the heavy noise from the water hitting the tub sounding more like thunderclaps in her current state. "And no more shots of Jack with Jason; or triple margaritas with Aisha; or body shots off of Tommy's abs. Wait…scratch that last part and keep the body shots. Oh God, am I really talking to myself right now?"

Gripping the sink counter tightly as she looked herself in the mirror, Kimberly shook her head with a half-hearted chuckle. "You really are losing it, Kim," she continued. Sighing, she reached up slowly to the thin straps of her dress, pulling them away from her shoulders until the garment rested at her feet.

Her fingertips subconsciously started to graze her naked body, just floating across her skin as her eyes remained locked on the mirror. She looked at herself and couldn't help but wonder what it was that made Tommy long for her the way he so readily admitted to doing.

Why her? Why the tiny brunette with a bust that was pretty much non-existent, legs as long as toothpicks, and an ass one could balance a glass on? Why her when he could have had Kat, or any of the other women that she was so sure threw themselves at Tommy on a regular basis.

"Does it matter?" she asked herself quietly, staring hard at her reflection.

The truth was that it didn't matter at all; not even a little bit. She might not have been the stereotypical image of beauty, yet Tommy seized every possible opportunity to call her Beautiful. She didn't have the physical proportions of other women, yet Tommy had said multiple times that he wanted her more than anyone else on the planet. He could have had any woman he wanted, but all he wanted was her, and that was a fact that had Kimberly smiling from ear to ear as she finally turned away from the mirror in exchange for the hot shower waiting behind her.

She reveled in the shower's soothing mist, droplets of water cascading down her body as she hung her head under the hot spray. Almost immediately, albeit very slowly, she could feel the pulsing against her forehead start to dissipate as her thoughts drifted to Tommy once more, remembering vividly how she had so regretfully pried herself from his sleepy embrace just fifteen minutes earlier.

"_The days are the hardest,"_ she reminded herself silently. "_Credit for the understatement of the century is the sole, copyrighted property of Kimberly Hart and cannot be reused, rebroadcast, or otherwise redistributed without the express written consent of its owner."_

A small part of her laughed out loud at that, the self-admitted quirkiness that was so much a part of who she was as a person. Still, she knew how true her thoughts really were. The days were the worst part of the week; she and Tommy were never together in a group smaller than four, making it impossible to express any sort of affection beyond that of a friend if they hoped to keep their late night encounters a secret.

It was some thirty minutes later when she finally emerged from her bedroom wearing a pair of jeans and a white hooded sweatshirt with the word MIAMI emblazoned in big pink letters across the chest. As she headed for the stairs she passed by Tommy's room, the door hanging wide open to reveal a perfectly clean and orderly room with no signs from the previous night.

Smiling at his thoroughness, she headed downstairs to the first floor kitchen where breakfast and dinner usually took place, mostly because it had the most space and Rocky's room was on the same level. Her head still throbbed as she entered the spacious kitchen, looking from Rocky who was standing over the stove to the dining table where everyone else sat. There were two empty chairs, one next to Tommy at the end of the table and another on the opposite end in between Aisha and Adam.

"Morning, Rocko," Kimberly murmured, patting him on the back as she headed for the table. "What's for breakfast this morning?"

"Orders are already up on omelettes. What do you want in yours? I've pretty much got everything you can think of," Rocky answered, turning to watch Kimberly take the seat in between Aisha and Adam. "Already hogging my wife and bro, I see," he added with a laugh.

Looking over at Rocky, Kimberly sneered and stuck her tongue out at him. "You have them all year and I only get them for a week so deal with it," she fired back, pretending like she hadn't seen the expression of barely visible disappointment on Tommy's face when she'd chosen not to sit by him. "And I want ham, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, and a few peppers please."

"Sure thing," said Rocky, Kimberly watching Tommy from the corner of her eye as she turned to speak with Aisha.

It wasn't that she didn't want to be near him. More than anything in the world she wanted to be in that seat, his arm around her shoulder and her head against his chest. But they had talked _ad nauseum _about telling the others and they'd always agreed that it was best to keep their closed door interactions kept behind said door even though they both secretly hated having to do so.

She felt her neck start to grow hot when she realized that Tommy's eyes were still fully trained on her presence. It was like he wasn't even trying to hide anything; the look in his eyes was the same he wore when they were alone, when they didn't have to act like they weren't the only thing they cared about.

"Yo, can I get some help with these?" Rocky called out a few minutes later. Kimberly was out of her seat in a flash, anything to escape the way Tommy's eyes made her feel like taking him right then and there in front of all their friends. Smiling gratefully, Rocky pointed to a tray with five plates on it, each of them loaded with an omelette, toast, and a heaping spoonful of fried potatoes. "That's you, Billy, Adam, 'Sha, and Tanya," he continued, Kimberly nodding her understanding after he'd pointed to each plate. "Thanks, Kim."

"No problem," she murmured, carrying the tray of plates back to the table with her as Rocky followed behind with the rest.

Standing at the table, she watched their interaction as they took their plates from her. Adam handed Tanya's plate to her, accepting with a smile her whispered thank you and the kiss on the cheek she gave to her husband. She watched Billy and Trini sitting side-by-side, Trini stealing bites from Billy's plate even though their omelettes had been prepared the exact same way. She watched the way Jason and Kat held hands under the table; the way Rocky and Aisha's eyes remained locked from where they sat, apart; and the way Zack and Angela, the only outsider who'd ever been allowed into their circle, couldn't keep their hands away from one another.

Seeing all of this and then looking to Tommy who seemed so alone in between Jason and Zack…it only made her desire to be near him even stronger. But as she'd learned to do so well over the last seven years she suppressed those desires, forcing herself to focus on the plate in front of her instead of the piercing brown eyes burning a hole in her from afar.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" asked Adam, rubbing his forehead gingerly in between bites of potatoes.

In the midst of taking a sip from his coffee mug, Jason cleared his throat. "I don't know about you guys, but I can't remember the last time we were here this close to a snowfall. That fresh powder out there on the slopes has been calling my name since we got here. Who's down to go boarding with me?" he asked, immediately looking to Tommy in silent expectation of his best friend's confirmation.

"If this headache goes away in the next hour or so, then yeah," Tommy answered, chuckling.

Jason nodded and then started to look around at the rest of the group. "Anyone else?"

Tommy's eyes again returned to Kimberly, waiting to see what her answer would be. She caught his gaze and gave him the subtlest of winks, but did not immediately answer Jason's question. She was playing it cool, not wanting to give her agreement right after Tommy's to ensure it didn't seem like she was eager to spend time with the former White Ranger.

Sitting next to her, Adam looked to his wife who simply smiled and nodded. "Tanya and I are in," he announced to the group.

"Flyboy over there and I, as well," added Aisha, pointing her thumb in Rocky's direction.

"Alright then, I'm in, too," Kimberly interjected, Tommy fighting the urge to smile.

Less than two minutes later everyone but Billy and Trini had agreed to hit the slopes with Jason. On the first day of the trip for the last seven years in a row they'd gone skiing and snowboarding together, and though the ex-Blue and Yellow Rangers desperately wanted to go with their friends, the swollen belly hanging over the waistline of Trini's jeans as she entered the third trimester of her pregnancy would have made it damn hard for her to get on a snowboard. Billy, on the other hand, could have easily gone with them but he simply had no desire to leave his fiancée's side.

Conversation remained casual for the remainder of the meal, the eleven Rangers and Angela—who was experiencing the holidays Ranger style for just the second year—catching up on everything in each other's lives that they had missed out on over the last year. Eventually the restlessness of some of the group's members started to show and shortly thereafter it was decided to end their gathering within a gathering.

"Who's on dish duty this morning?" asked Zack, rising from his seat to carry his and Angela's plates to the kitchen.

Following behind him, Kimberly set her plate down next to Zack's and then moved to the refrigerator to check the chart on the door that denoted who did the dishes, for what meal, and on which days. "Looks like Jason and Tommy got this one," she answered, smiling at the two males in her life that she was the closest to. "I'm gonna go change. Have fun, boys," she added, promptly exiting the kitchen.

Sighing, Tommy shook his head and stood up with his plate in hand, looking down at Jason. "You wanna rinse or load, bro?"

Jason shrugged. "I guess I'll load 'em up."

Tommy nodded and then turned for the kitchen sink, immediately going to work on cleaning the dishes as one by one the group brought their plates, glasses, and silverware to him. Minutes later Tommy and Jason were alone, the latter standing on the opposite side of the dishwasher that separated them as he methodically loaded the dishes into the appliance.

"So how's it going, man?" asked Jason, picking up a handful of wet silverware from the counter. "It's been awhile."

"Yeah, it has," Tommy agreed, nodding with a sponge in hand and a dishtowel draped over his shoulder. "But I've been pretty good. Last year made me forget how boring regular life is when there aren't monsters trying to destroy the city you live in on a daily basis."

Jason laughed knowingly. "Yeah, it's always tough to hang it up," he replied, silently recalling the two occasions where he had given up his Ranger powers.

"Yup," said Tommy, setting some plates down on the counter next to him. "How about you? How goes it in the land of Jason?"

The former Red and Gold Ranger smiled brightly. "It's good, bro; really good. Kat and I have been talking about it more and more recently. I think once all the stress from the holidays is over we're going to try and start a family."

"Really?" asked Tommy, Jason nodding through his ear-to-ear grin. "Aww, man, that's awesome. Seriously, bro, congratulations."

"Thanks, man," said Jason, a glass in each hand that he then loaded into the dishwasher's upper rack. "What about you? You and Kim still playing the same game you've been playing for the last seven years?"

Furrowing his brow in confusion, Tommy shook Jason's question off with an awkward chuckle. "What are you talking about, Jase? Kim and I are just friends. You know that."

Shaking his head, Jason stared hard at his friend. "You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time, Tommy. If you don't want to talk about it that's fine, but don't keep playing the rest of us like a bunch of idiots. We're not all as ignorant as you might think."

And with that Jason pushed the dishwasher door closed and turned to leave the kitchen. He was on the verge of disappearing around the corner when Tommy called out for him to stop which he did, slowly turning around to face his friend. Looking Jason right in the eyes, Tommy took a deep breath and swallowed hard.

"Does Kim know that you know?" asked Tommy, a clear hint of nervousness in his voice.

Jason shook his head. "I don't think so," he answered, Tommy letting out a sigh of relief as he nodded his understanding. "Anything else?"

"Nope," said Tommy, wearing a half-hearted smile. Nodding, Jason turned to leave once more. "Hey, bro?"

"Yeah?" asked Jason, laughing as he turned back to face his friend.

Tommy smiled. "Thanks," he replied. "For not pushing me to talk and all that."

"No problem, bro," said Jason with a half-cocked grin. "After almost fifteen years I know well enough that you'll talk when you're ready," he continued, Tommy nodding. "Anyway, I'm gonna go get ready to hit the slopes. You should probably do the same."

"Thanks, mom," Tommy retorted with a chuckle.

He and Jason shared a laugh, the latter of the two shaking his head as he exited the kitchen for good. Alone, Tommy let out a deep and exasperated sigh as he removed the dishtowel from his shoulder and tossed it haphazardly onto the kitchen counter, walking out of the kitchen en route to his bedroom with a sense of confused uncertainty the likes of which he had not experienced in many, many years.

--


	2. Chapter 2

_**Title: The Merriest of Christmases**_

_**Summary: Every year, during the week before Christmas the Rangers all get together to celebrate the holidays with each other. For seven years this has been their tradition, and for just as long Tommy and Kimberly have had a little tradition of their own. Unfortunately, this year brings confliction to their tradition, making them both wonder if the path they're going on is the right one.**_

_**A/N 1: ChrisAngelo has done an incredible piece of companion art to go along with this story and I believe he will be doing one more as well. The link to the picture is posted on my profile page right at the top. Check it out and let Chris and me know what you think. Show the guy some love for all his hard work lol.**_

_**Timeline: Takes place the year after Dino Thunder**_

_**Rating: T (a mature version to this story is being posted as well)**_

_**Chapter: 2/5**_

_**Original Posting Date: December 8, 2008**_

_--_

_Saturday, December 17, 2005_

_Northstar-at-Tahoe Ski Resort_

_Truckee, CA_

_12:45 pm_

The view from the top of the mountain was nothing short of breathtaking. In their current position Jason, Tommy, Rocky, Aisha, and Kimberly—all of them layered in full snowboarding gear—could see nothing but mile after shimmering mile of gorgeous Lake Tahoe and the many thousands of snowcapped trees that surrounded it.

They'd spent the better part of two hours attacking the mountain with the rest of the Rangers, and were now on their final run before turning in for lunch. Of course, being the people that they were, they'd chosen the highest point possible to end their excursion on.

The portion of the mountain that they were standing atop was known as "The BackSide," and consisted of eight completely uninterrupted one-mile runs with all the bumps and freshly groomed powder that one could possibly desire. It was easily the most scenic of Northstar's many runs, but it was also a place that only two types of people frequented: those who were fairly experienced on skis and snowboards, and those fearless enough to try anything regardless of the potential risks that were involved by doing so.

Outside of Tommy who had lived in Colorado for five years before moving to Angel Grove, experience was something that this group was lacking in spades; especially when considering that the only time any of them ever touched the snow was during their one week a year in the California mountains.

Standing in the middle of their side-by-side line, Jason and Aisha on one side, Kimberly and Rocky on the other, Tommy looked back and forth between his friends. "Well, this is it guys. We've reached the point of no return. It's all downhill from here."

Rocky laughed as he adjusted his red beanie. "It's too bad the others chickened out. The view from up here is incredible."

"Boy, I would have chickened out too if I'd have known Tommy was going to say stuff like 'we've reached the point of no return' and 'it's all downhill from here,'" Aisha interjected, glaring at Tommy who gave her the best apologetic smile he could muster.

"Sorry, 'Sha," Tommy murmured, the former Yellow Ranger nodding her forgiveness. "So, you guys ready to do this or what?"

"Oh yeah," said Jason, rubbing his gloved hands together excitedly.

"Definitely," added Kimberly, nodding as Aisha and Rocky did the same.

Grinning like a maniac, Tommy pulled the orange-tinted goggles atop his forehead down over his eyes. "Then let's go."

With that he locked his front foot into his snowboard, pushed forward and was off, tearing down the mountain at breakneck speeds with the fearlessness of a man who had seen much worse than this in his twenty-eight years of living. It was just moments later when he heard the other Rangers following the path he was carving in front of them.

Checking at what was coming up ahead, Tommy looked back at them and smiled. "Check this one out!" he yelled, approaching a large patch of snow formed into something of a mini-ramp that was roughly five feet off the ground at its highest point.

Tommy hit the ramp without hesitation, launching himself into a graceful back flip that saw him land perfectly upon completing his rotation before continuing down the mountain. Every move he made the rest of the way down, every hairpin turn and every majestically executed trick, they were all done for only one person.

And though she had known from the start that Tommy was trying to impress her, Kimberly had to admit that watching him in action was damn impressive. He was just so…_fearless_. It didn't matter if it was snowboarding, fighting monsters, teaching high school students, or playing video games; everything Tommy did he attacked with the exact same mindset, that he could do anything he wanted to do so long as he believed in himself and his abilities.

She didn't know what to say when Tommy suddenly spun around in a power slide so that he was now riding with his right foot in the lead position. As he looked back at them and reached into his jacket pocket he extracted his digital camera and started to snap a myriad of pictures of his friends riding behind him.

"Boy, I swear!" shouted Aisha, shaking her head. "You're too crazy for your own good!"

"Seriously, Tommy, knock it off!" Kimberly added, genuinely fearing for his safety. "You're gonna break your neck or something!"

"Yeah, like die!" Rocky yelled, Aisha resisting the urge to slap her boyfriend upside the head.

Tommy shook his head. "Come on, you guys are no fu—"

"Tommy, look out!" Kimberly shrieked, grimacing.

Whipping his head around, Tommy looked back just in time to see the wiped-out snowboarder lying in his path before instinct took over, allowing him to leap over the boarder just inches away from a collision. He didn't even need to see the look on Kimberly's face to feel her eyes piercing him and knew that he was going to hear about his little stunt as soon as they had gotten away from the others.

And it was with that knowledge in mind that he decided to test the waters even further. If she was already going to be giving him an earful for his actions then he wanted to at least make sure that he deserved it when she inevitably went off on him.

The lodge at Northstar ran alongside the last half mile of the mountain, spanning half that distance which would end up leaving them a quarter mile walk back to the lodge where the others were currently waiting for them. Shortly before the lodge had become visible Tommy had actually started to strip. He was now shirtless with his jacket tied around his waist, his tee shirt gripped in one gloved hand and his hooded sweatshirt in the other. His whole upper body was beyond red from the cold, but Tommy didn't seem to care at all.

Seated on the lodge's outdoor patio overlooking the mountain were four attractive young ladies bundled up heavily in jackets, beanies, gloves, and scarves. One spotted Tommy coming, pointed him out to her friends, and they all stood up and cheered for him, clapping and hollering as he passed in front of them.

"Oh yeah, baby!" Tommy yelled, pumping his fists in the air before bowing for the girls.

By this point Jason, Rocky, and Aisha were having trouble just staying on their boards as they simultaneously tried to contend with the fits of laughter that Tommy was subjecting them to. It was something so out of character for him to do, something that they could have never in their wildest dreams imagined their former leader doing, but he was doing it nonetheless.

Even Kimberly, who was eyeing Tommy fiercely, couldn't help but to crack a smile at his shirtless antics despite the urge to beat him silly with her snowboard. Then she remembered that it was a rental and silently decided that her fists would do just fine.

Tommy was already freed from his snowboard at the foot of the mountain and in the process of pulling his hoody back on over his tee shirt when the four former Rangers came to skidding stops in front of him.

"Bro," said Jason, breathing heavily as he pulled his goggles up to his forehead. "That was easily the funniest thing I've seen in a long ass time."

"No doubt, man," Rocky added, clutching his stomach while struggling to suppress his laughter. "I can't believe you actually did that.

Tommy laughed heartily. "Thanks, guys. I had a feeling you would enjoy that," he replied, slapping hands with his male friends and in turn catching Kimberly's steely-eyed glare coming from behind them.

Surprisingly, he was now kind of looking forward to getting yelled at by her. There was just something about her when she was mad that was undeniably…_cute_. The mere notion of so much anger and emotion coming from such a petite, harmless looking woman was enough to have Tommy smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Picking up his board from the snowy ground he dusted it off, tucked it under his right arm, and then turned back to face his friends. "Should we head back to the lodge now?" he questioned, the other former Rangers all nodding their agreement.

He'd barely taken ten steps towards the lodge when he felt something pulling at the back of his jacket. Knowing exactly who it was he froze on the spot, eyeing a winking Jason as he, Rocky, and Aisha continued passed their old leader.

"Not wasting any time, I see," Tommy muttered with a laugh, looking down to his left where Kimberly was now standing and staring. "If you're gonna yell at me can you at least wait until we get back to the house or something?"

Hands at her hips, Kimberly shook her head in disbelief. "You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?" she replied, glaring hard at Tommy. "I'm not your mom so I'm not going to yell at you. All I'm going to say is that you could have seriously hurt yourself or someone else out there, and you're lucky that you didn't. Next time you decide to put your life at risk for no good reason, don't do it in front of me."

That having been said, Kimberly turned away from Tommy and started towards the lodge. For a few seconds he just watched her as she walked, silently debating whether or not to go after her. His answer came rather quickly, causing Tommy to sigh before turning on his heels and giving chase.

"Kim!" Tommy called out, jogging after her. "Kim, come on! Wait up!"

But she didn't wait up; she ignored Tommy's request and just kept walking. Still, he was able to catch up to her and cut her off, sidestepping left and right when she tried to go around him. Quickly growing frustrated, Tommy took her by her wrists and pinned them together, pulling her in close and forcing her to look at him with his face hovering just inches above his.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Tommy continued, the exasperation growing in his voice when Kimberly maintained her unimpressed expression. "The only reason I was doing that stuff was to try and impress you."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "You think I don't know that? Why do you think I'm mad at you right now!?" she replied, yanking her wrists out of a confused Tommy's grasp. "You know, you would think that after nearly fifteen years it would have gotten through to you by now that you don't have to try and impress me all the time. I'm not some superficial little girl, Tommy. I don't need you to do back flips, or take pictures of the things behind you while you're racing down a huge freaking mountain!"

Looking her right in the eyes, Tommy smiled softly. "You didn't mention the whole stripping thing," he murmured, a hint of hope in his voice that his comment would somewhat extinguish her fiery demeanor.

Fighting the urge to laugh, Kimberly bit down hard on her bottom lip with Tommy staring a hole in her until she could no longer resist it. Deep down she didn't want to be mad at him, and so she let her laugh go, albeit quietly and with a slight shake of her head.

"That's because the whole stripping thing is the only thing that saved your ass from me beating you senseless," said Kimberly, Tommy taking his turn to laugh. "Seriously, though, if you hadn't pissed me off before I think I would have taken you right there in front of everyone. That was one of the sexiest yet equally funny things that I have ever seen."

Hands in his pockets and a smile on his face, Tommy shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "What can I say? I did it for you, Beautiful," he replied, slinking his arm around Kimberly's shoulder as they continued towards the lodge.

Looking up at him, Kimberly smiled before taking his arm and removing it from around her. "I don't think you want that there when we get back to the lodge, Tommy."

"Yes, I do," said Tommy, putting his arm back and pulling her in even closer, earning a surprised look from Kimberly in the process. Lowering his lips until they were inches from his ear he whispered, "They already know."

Kimberly's eyes went wide, the shock over hearing this causing her to push herself away from Tommy entirely. "They know?" she questioned, clearly dumbfounded with a jaw dropping expression to prove it as Tommy folded his arms across his chest and nodded. "How do you know they know?"

"Jason told me this morning when we were doing the dishes," Tommy answered, shrugging. "He didn't say how long they've known or anything like that, but from the way he was talking he kind of made it sound like it's been quite awhile."

"Wow," Kimberly murmured, simply shocked to the point where she didn't know what else to say. "Did he say anything else?"

"You mean about us?" asked Tommy, his eyebrow raised curiously as Kimberly nodded. "No, not really; just that they knew and that he didn't want us trying to play them like they were stupid anymore. Are you mad that they know?"

With narrowed eyes, Kimberly seemed to think about Tommy's question for a few moments before sighing deeply. "No, I'm not mad," she answered, shaking her head. "I'm really just surprised more than anything. Part of me has always known that they'd find out eventually, but at the same time this isn't exactly how I imagined it happening."

Tommy laughed. "Yeah, me too," he replied, nodding his agreement as he offered her his hand which she took with a smile. In silence they started towards the lodge for the third time, but it didn't take long for that silence to be broken when Tommy turned his eyes to the petite woman on his right. "I'm actually kind of glad that they found out, though. I mean, obviously I don't know how you feel, but after seven years I was starting to get sick of having to avoid being close to you during the day. Plus, now you don't have to leave the room at the crack of dawn anymore, either."

When Tommy gave her hand a squeeze Kimberly sighed and stepped in closer to his side, laying her head against his arm. "Things have changed, Tommy," she murmured, gazing longingly into his chocolate brown eyes. "I don't know when or what made it happen; but you, me,_us_…whatever _we_ are," she continued with a slight chuckle. "It's not the same as it used to be."

Tommy swallowed hard because he knew that she was right. His feelings had changed somewhere in the two years since they had last been together. Whereas in years passed he would have been content to just simply enjoy their brief time with each other, now it was only the second day of the trip and he was already starting to dread the day when he would have to say goodbye once more.

"Honestly, Kim, maybe it took us a little while longer than the others, but I think we're finally starting to grow up," said Tommy, speaking slowly and softly. "Maybe it's like a sign or something, you know?"

"Yeah, maybe," Kimberly murmured distantly, shrugging and not really wanting to think about it at the moment. Then she saw the look in Tommy's eyes and immediately started to feel bad. To the casual observer it would have seemed like nothing was bothering him, but to the one who knew him so intimately both inside and out it was clear that he was disappointed. "That came off cold, didn't it?"

Chuckling awkwardly, Tommy shrugged. "Eh, maybe a little. It's no big deal."

"_That's not what your eyes are saying,"_ Kimberly thought to herself.

"I'm sorry," she continued out loud, nuzzling her face against Tommy's arm. "I just…I don't want to worry about the future right now, that's all. We still have almost a full seven days left on this trip. Why don't we just enjoy the time we have together as much as possible for now and then see where things go from there?"

Though part of him wanted to talk about it now, Tommy just smiled and nodded as they reached the entrance to the lodge, pulling the door open for Kimberly who murmured her thanks before stepping into the building's welcoming warmth with Tommy right behind her. Heading for the restaurant section of the lodge, they found the others waiting for them at a long table tucked away in the furthest corner of the room. The first person Tommy looked to was Jason who was all smiles and had clearly taken note of the fact that his two closest friends were now holding hands in front of the entire group.

"What's up, guys?" said Kimberly as they approached the table, the group chorusing their salutations.

Seeing as how everyone already knew their little secret, neither she nor Tommy felt the need to explain their show of affection to their friends. For Tommy, however, with their secret now out in the open it gave him the perfect opportunity to begin working on Kimberly.

No longer was it necessary for him to maintain the public persona of the man who didn't care about her as anything more than just a friend. There were six and a half days left on this trip and come Hell or high water, by the end of it Kimberly was going to know exactly how Tommy felt about her.

--

_Saturday, December 17, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_9:00 pm_

There was something undoubtedly beautiful in the scene Tommy and Kimberly were currently gazing out on as they shared the bench swing on the large, second level deck that was only accessible from Tommy's room and the one Zack and Angela shared. The patio light was off, the moon and stars above acting as the only needed forms of illumination to the gorgeous stretch of frosted trees surrounding the shimmering mass of dark blue that was Lake Tahoe.

Laying with his head in Kimberly's lap and his feet stretched out across the bench, Tommy couldn't imagine a more perfect moment than this. Kimberly was gently running her fingers through his hair, causing a slight tickling sensation to his scalp that was more of a pleasure than an annoyance.

After spending the entire day with their friends, aside from the walk back to the lodge this was the first time that they had been alone at all since she had left his room earlier that morning. So far, in the ten minutes they had been outside they'd barely even spoken; speech just didn't seem necessary when everything they needed to know was already looking them in the eyes, both literally and figuratively.

Still, that didn't stop Tommy from wanting to hear her voice. There was something unexplainably soothing about it, like all of the problems in life and in the world meant nothing so long as she was there.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Kimberly, noticing the contemplative look that Tommy was now wearing.

"You don't want me to answer that," said Tommy, smirking.

Kimberly laughed. "Oooh, must be dirty," she replied, winking down at Tommy.

Sighing, Tommy chuckled and shook his head. "You really wanna know?" he asked, mostly because he really wanted to tell her.

Moving her hands to Tommy's back, Kimberly softly started pushing him into an elevated position. "Sit up," she said sternly.

Tommy didn't question, he just did; and when she pointed towards the opposite end of the bench he understood her silent command, moving so that he sat with his back on the inside of the armrest. From there Kimberly slid across the bench and turned so that she sat in between Tommy's legs. Reaching back she took his arms, wrapped them around herself, and then leaned back against his chest.

"There," she continued, her voice a murmur. "Now you can tell me anything."

Smiling, Tommy pulled her in even closer and pecked a single, soft kiss to the top of her head. "I could spend the rest of my life like this," he whispered, his fingers interlocked with Kimberly's inside the stomach pocket of her hooded sweatshirt.

"Is that what you were thinking?" asked Kimberly, leaning her head back to meet his eyes.

"Sort of," Tommy answered, smiling as the look on Kimberly's face implored him to continue. "Promise you won't freak out?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "_Tommy_," she groaned, half-playfully.

"Alright, alright," Tommy chuckled, shaking his head. "I was just thinking…for as awesome and gorgeous as this place is, I don't really need it. I mean, I could live in a one bedroom in Chatsworth and I'd be perfectly happy as long as you were there with me."

Gazing fondly into his eyes, Kimberly smiled softly. "It scares me to think I may never find another man who makes me feel quite the way you make me feel inside. Right now, sitting here in your arms…I feel like the most special girl in the entire world."

"That's because you are, Beautiful," Tommy murmured, smoothing her hair out as he kissed her forehead. "I've broken up with three fairly serious girlfriends so that you and I could have our week together."

Kimberly laughed. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I've got you beat," she countered, Tommy giving her a suspicious look that said he wasn't sure if she was kidding or not. "I've broken up with three fairly serious boyfriends and one very serious boyfriend so that we could have our week together."

Tommy furrowed his brow. "How serious?" he questioned, holding her in a manner that was almost protective as if he was afraid she'd run away if he let go of her.

He looked at her expectantly for this was interesting territory, indeed. What had started off as a casual, almost corny series of confessions had now turned into a conversation that had captured Tommy's full attention in a matter of moments.

"Pretty serious," Kimberly answered, sighing when she felt Tommy start to tense up. Nonetheless she went on, knowing that Tommy wouldn't let it go until she had finished. "We were living together, and I'm pretty sure he was going to ask me to marry him. At the time I was convinced that I only broke up with him so that I was free to be with you, but now that I've had four years to look back on it I know now that I wasn't ready to get married back then. Needless to say, he didn't take the breakup very well. I ended up having to have one of my old teammates from the Pan Global's help me move all my stuff to his place in the pouring down rain just so I could make it out here two days later."

"You broke up with him two days before the trip?" Tommy questioned with an incredulous chuckle. "Way to plan ahead, Kim."

Kimberly laughed. "Seeing as how I ended up living out of a hotel for nearly two weeks after the trip, in retrospect I definitely would have given myself more time. But the truth is that I really wasn't sure what I was going to do until the very last minute. I beat myself up for a good two, three weeks debating whether or not I should break up with Jeff."

Tommy's laughter had ceased to be midway through her reply, replaced by an expression of the utmost seriousness. "That serious, huh?" he murmured, hating as Kimberly nodded her confirmation the mere thought that she had ever been that close with another man. "Was it worth it?"

"If you're trying to ask me if I'd make the same decision again," Kimberly started. Adjusting herself in his arms so that they were face to face she captured his lips in a single, sweet kiss before continuing. "Then the answer is yes; a million times over. Like I said before, no man has ever made me feel quite the way you do."

The smile on Tommy's face upon hearing that was bright enough to illuminate even the darkest of rooms. "I meant what I said earlier, too, you know," he replied, rubbing the sides of her arms. "I could live in an absolute crap hole in the most rinky-dink town on the planet and it wouldn't matter if you were there."

Leaning deeper into his embrace, Kimberly sighed. "Is this the part where we start talking about why we aren't in a real relationship?"

Tommy chuckled, but it was half-heartedly at best. "Why aren't we in a real relationship? I mean, really, look at the facts: when we're together we act like we're a couple, we know practically everything about each other, for as different as we are we're compatible in ways that no one could ever even hope to explain, and on top of all that the sex isn't too bad, either."

Knowing that the last part was meant to be teasing, Kimberly gave Tommy a slight courtesy laugh even though she questioned the statement's appropriateness considering the current tone of their conversation.

"Yep," Kimberly admitted, nodding slightly. "But for as great as all that stuff you just mentioned is, you forgot two very important things. One, we live five thousand miles apart; and Two, you and I are both too stubborn to do anything about it. We've had this conversation before, Tommy. You have your life in Reefside, I have mine in Florida, and once a year they happen to cross paths."

"I'll move to Florida," said Tommy, giving no indication to anything but complete seriousness.

Kimberly closed her eyes to prevent herself from rolling them. Unfortunately, as soon as her eyes closed she was met with images of what life in Florida would be like with Tommy there. With his school teacher hours she imagined he would be home long before her last gymnastics class had ended. She could see herself walking into her house after a long day at work, Tommy already there to greet her with a hug and a kiss.

When she had a bad day, no longer would she need her four friends—Aisha, Trini, Ben, and Jerry—to help her cope. Tommy had always been more than willing to listen to her pour her heart and soul to him; she imagined it would be wonderful, a strong pair of arms to hold her and a shoulder to cry on whenever she needed it.

And the sex. Oh, the sex; before work, on their lunch breaks, after work, all day long on the weekends if they wanted to. The man whose mere touch sent shivers up her spine would be there with her every day. In her heart, she knew that life with Tommy would be nothing short of absolutely incredible.

These images lasted for but mere moments, Kimberly forcefully ending them when she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She'd already said before that the future wasn't something she wanted to talk about right now, and until she'd had some more time to work things out in her head this was still a conversation that she was not prepared to have.

Allowing her eyes to flutter open, she leaned back and found chocolate brown looking down at her, waiting for some kind of reply to his spur of the moment declaration. "Tommy, please, not right now," she murmured, pushing herself onto the side of her legs so that she could wrap her arms around his midsection. "I promise you, before this trip has ended we will talk about what our futures are going to look like. You aren't the only one who wants something more, either, you know."

"Do you love me?" asked Tommy, suddenly feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet for asking her that. He'd been wondering if she loved him, but wondering out loud was definitely not something he had intended to do. And because of that, it was now his turn to feel Kimberly tense up.

He loosened his embrace slightly, thinking she'd leave after being pushed too far, but she didn't. Kimberly remained in the same position, her arms wrapped around Tommy's waist until he realized she wasn't going anywhere and re-took his hold on her.

"It's not a matter of love, Tommy, because the truth is that I've never stopped loving you," Kimberly whispered, squeezing him even tighter. "Our lives just started going in different directions and they've been going that same way ever since. I hated having to learn to live without you…"

"Not as much as I did," was Tommy's murmured interjection.

"That's debatable," Kimberly replied, she and Tommy sharing a laugh. "What's not debatable is that, even though we hated having to live without each other, we still managed to do it, and I think it's naïve to say we're not better, stronger people because of that."

Tommy smiled as he turned and pecked a kiss to the side of her head. "When did you get so wise?" he asked in a whisper.

"Right around the time I learned that a letter is the worst way to breakup with someone you love and care about," Kimberly answered, dead serious.

"Was that the second or third time you did it?" Tommy questioned teasingly, laughing.

Shaking her head, Kimberly managed a chuckle as she swatted his chest playfully. "You're such an ass."

"Yeah, but you still love me," Tommy replied, swaying a smiling and nodding Kimberly from side to side in his arms. "So when did you really realize what you just said?"

"What, that you're an ass? I learned that a long time ago," Kimberly answered with a laugh of her own, not missing an opportunity to dig back at Tommy.

And when he joined her in laughter, she knew that she would never find another man quite like him. From just about the moment they'd met Kimberly had known that Tommy was a young man with an incredible amount of pride, pride that had only increased in the thirteen-plus years since that fateful day in the hallways of Angel Grove High School.

She'd broken his heart, callously in fact, but Tommy was still able to put aside that pride and laugh with her about it as if they were just looking back on another one of the many things that they had gone through with each other. It was almost surreal, to know that such a prideful man was willing to do that just to make her feel a little less guilty about what she had done to him.

"The serious answer to your question," she continued once their laughter had ceased, "is exactly two hours, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-eight seconds after I dropped it in the mailbox outside the training complex."

Tommy furrowed his brown in partial disbelief. "You know the exact time?"

Sighing, Kimberly nodded. "I faked sick and skipped out on afternoon practices that day. The time is how long I sat at my window, watching for the mail van to show up and then leave. When it drove away I knew that I had really done it, that there was no going back. And as soon as that mail van pulled away I immediately started to regret it. You'd never been anything but everything a girl wants and hopes for; you deserved better than just some stupid letter."

That's about when it became too much. Tommy felt his eyes start to get misty when he began to unwillingly remember the day he'd gotten that letter. Deep down, whether he showed it or not thinking about that day still hurt sometimes; usually more often than not. Over the years he'd simply learned to not think about it. He could joke about it without reliving the painful memories, but every once in a while it just hit him where it hurt the most.

The heart.

"Promise me you'll never do that to me again, Kim," said Tommy, his voice filled with the pain of a heartbreak that was old, but not entirely forgotten.

Adjusting herself so that they were face to face, Kimberly saw his eyes both watery and red. "Oh, Tommy," she murmured, reaching out to touch his face.

With a visible wince, Tommy jerked back before she could make contact. "Please, Kim…just promise me…if we ever end up in a serious relationship again and you want to break up with me…please, just promise me you won't do it in a letter."

"Tommy," Kimberly started, reaching out for his face once more, this time without resistance, "Knowing what I know now, I would never _ever_ put that kind of pain on you again. It was a stupid decision, one that I've regretted making every day since the day I did it."

Biting back his tears, Tommy smiled and nodded. "That's all I needed to hear," he murmured, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I wish I could take all your pain away," Kimberly whispered, kissing his lips despite the tears cascading down them.

"You are, Kim," Tommy replied, pulling her back into his arms. "Whether you realize it or not, with every moment we spend together a little bit more of that pain disappears."

At that moment Kimberly felt her eyes start to water as well; not because she was sad, but because to hear Tommy say that so genuinely, to know that she truly had that effect on him was a feeling the likes of which _Webster's_ itself could not even begin to define. Then the sliding glass door opened, everything coming to a screeching halt when Jason jumped out onto the deck in nothing but a pair of white boxer shorts with red hearts and an assortment of DVD cases in each hand.

"Oh fuck, it's cold!" was the first thing to come from Jason's mouth as he stood there shivering. Turning his attention to his friends, he felt an uncomfortable lump form in his throat when he saw them both sitting on the swing with tears in their eyes. "Oh," he muttered awkwardly, taking a few steps back towards the door. "I, uh, I'll just go back inside."

Dabbing at her eyes, Kimberly shook her head and waved her hand flippantly. "It's okay, Jase," she murmured, smiling as she now fought to suppress the tears she'd been so willing to set free just moments before. "What's up?"

"And more importantly," Tommy interjected, laughing as he glared at his friend's choice of apparel. "Why in God's name are you out here in nothing but _Rocky's_ boxer shorts?"

"We were all downstairs drinking and playing Truth or Dare," Jason answered, holding himself as he bounced around in an attempt to keep warm. "Trini dared me to do come out here, so it was either this or drinking. I figured if this sounded like the better of two options than I'd probably had enough to drink already."

Tommy could do little more than laugh as he shook his head. "That was very responsible of you, buddy."

"Thanks," Jason replied, beaming like he'd just been bestowed the most esteemed of compliments possible.

"Wait, did you just say Trini dared you to do this?" asked Kimberly, Jason nodding. "You mean Trini's _drinking_?"

Again, Jason nodded. "Oh yeah," he answered with a dismissive wave, Kimberly feeling herself going into attack mode as she slowly started to pry herself from Tommy's arms. "You should see her down there pounding back shots of apple cider like it's nobody's business. She's pretty much drinking Rocky under the table. Poor kid's in a bad way, tonight. He's already passed out and woken back up twice."

Kimberly was on the verge of beating Jason senseless for letting a pregnant Trini drink when the words 'apple cider' registered, coincidentally just as Tommy had reached out to pull her back. "Jason Lee Scott, you better not let Trini drink," she warned, pointing a stern finger at her oldest and closest _friend_.

"Kim, whoa, relax dude," Jason breathed, running his hand through his hair. "Trini's like, the second smartest one in the group; and even if she wanted to drink she's engaged to the smartest one in the group. Hell, I don't even think Rocky's dumb enough to drink while pregnant."

When Jason suddenly got a look on his face like he'd just smelled the most disgusting pile of rotting trash on the planet Tommy laughed out loud, causing Kimberly to whirl around and look at him. "What's wrong with him?" she asked, nodding her head towards Jason.

"Nothing," Tommy answered, shaking his head. "He just imagined Rocky pregnant."

"You just had to say it out loud, didn't you bro?" asked Jason, Tommy shrugging his shoulders in a way that said he wasn't very sorry at all. "Anyway, before my nuts are all the way in my stomach I have to ask you what movie you want to watch. We have three votes for _Home Alone_, three forthe new version of _The Grinch_, three for _The Nightmare Before Christmas_, and one for _A Christmas Story_. For the sake of everyone's sanity I beg of you, please don't pick _A Christmas Story_. I think a four-way tie might start an all out battle royal down there."

Tommy laughed, running his fingertips up and down Kimberly's arms. "What do you want to watch, Beautiful?" he whispered.

"I haven't seen _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ in years," she answered, lazily playing with the hem of his black v-neck sweater. "That sound good to you?"

Instead of answering Kimberly, Tommy looked to Jason. "_Nightmare Before Christmas_, bro."

"Yes!" exclaimed Jason, raising his arms to the sky in the rush of pure and utter victory. "Rocky was the only one who voted for _A Christmas Story_. He was so sure you guys would pick it that he bet me fifty bucks on it."

Kimberly shook her head. "Why would Rocky even vote for it in the first place? It's tradition that we always watch it on our last night here."

Jason just shrugged. "I dunno; like I said, he's pretty drunk. Can I go back inside now?" he replied. "It's fucking freezing out here and I'd like to salvage what's left of my manhood before my body starts digesting it."

As soon as Tommy had started to look like he might be thinking about nodding Jason bolted back into the house. Turning to face each other, Tommy and Kimberly just stared in silence for a few moments before both burst out laughing.

"Come on," said Kimberly, slowly freeing herself from Tommy's embrace. Standing up, she offered him both of her hands with a smile as he reached out and took them. "Let's put on some comfy clothes and then go downstairs."

"Sounds good," Tommy murmured, allowing his arm to slip around Kimberly's waist as they started towards the door that Jason hadn't remembered to close. Inside the bedroom, he relinquished his hold on her and drifted towards the bathroom. "I'm just gonna splash some water on my face. I'll be back out in a minute."

Kimberly nodded and accepted his kiss, watching Tommy walk away until the bathroom door had closed shut. As it turned out, nature happened to call moments later so it ended up being a _wee_ bit longer than just a minute. When Tommy emerged after peeing and washing his face, Kimberly had already changed into a pajama set that had his mouth hanging wide open.

"I, uh, I've never seen that one before," he muttered, shaking his head as he looked at what would have been an ordinary set of white pajamas if not for the image of his old White Ranger helmet emblazoned in miniature form all over the place.

"That's because I've never had the guts to wear it in front of you before," Kimberly replied, smirking as Tommy started to disrobe. "I wasn't sure what you wanted to wear, but I got some stuff out for you and laid it on the bed, anyway."

Pulling his shirt over his head, Tommy tossed it aside and then smiled, pecking a kiss to her cheek. "Thanks," he murmured before he'd even seen the outfit. It could have been some of Kimberly's lingerie and he would have worn it just because she'd gone to the trouble of picking it out for him.

Luckily—for Tommy's sake, at least—it turned out to just be a pair of black and green flannel pajama bottoms and a black tee shirt with long sleeves and the world famous album cover from the Beatle's _Abbey Road_ printed on the front.

"You're welcome," said Kimberly, trying not to ogle Tommy as he stood there in just his black and white striped boxer shorts, facing the bed with his back to her. "Thanks again for letting me move my stuff in your room."

Tommy nodded. "No problem; besides," he replied, pulling the tee shirt down and smiling at Kimberly, "it's not my room. It's _our_ room."

--

_Sunday, December 18, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_11:50 am_

It was almost noon the next day and they'd barely gotten out of bed since waking up three and a half hours earlier, never for more than a few minutes and only for matters of the utmost importance. While the others had all headed into town to check out the rustic shops of this mountain city, Tommy and Kimberly had opted to stay behind in order to spend some quality time together.

Currently they were laying side by side in bed, naked and breathing quite heavily as their third round of love making—for Tommy it had ceased to be just sex as soon as Kimberly admitted she'd never stopped loving him—came to an end. They looked up at the ceiling with silent smiles plastered across their faces, both of them struggling to come up with words to describe the natural high they were currently experiencing.

"I can't feel my legs," Kimberly murmured, slowly turning her head to meet Tommy's eyes.

"Remember that scene in _Willy Wonka _when Grandpa Joe gets out of bed for the first time in years and teeters all over the place?" asked Tommy, he and Kimberly laughing as she nodded. "I'm pretty sure that's what would happen to me if I tried to get out of bed right now."

Kimberly smiled softly as she rolled over onto her side, her fingertips tracing random patterns along Tommy's chest and abs. "Tell me something I don't know about you," she requested in a near whisper.

The former White Ranger furrowed his brow. "Where's this coming from?"

Kimberly shrugged. "I dunno," she answered. "Consider it one of those weird things about the fairer sex that men will never be able to understand."

Tommy laughed. "Alright then," he replied, shaking his head. "Something funny or something serious?"

"How about one of each?" asked Kimberly.

"Okay, but you have to do the same thing when I'm done," Tommy countered, Kimberly smiling as she nodded her agreement. "Alright, here's something funny that no one else knows about so you can't say anything, but during our freshman year in college Jason and I, uh, _accidentally_ crossed swords."

"What?" Kimberly sputtered, her mouth agape in a mixture of shock and disbelief.

Sighing, Tommy nodded. "It's definitely not something I'm proud of, but it happened at a really weird time in my life. Kat had just broken up with me to go to the ballet academy in London and I went down to San Diego to visit Jason that weekend. We got drunk at a frat party, set our eyes on the same girl, and made a bet with each other as to who would get her first. I'm not getting detailed 'cause I might throw up if I do, but I think that you can figure out what happened from there on your own."

Kimberly could do little more than laugh at her own personal images of some drunken college girl sandwiched between Tommy and Jason. "Yeah, I think I get the picture," she replied, Tommy nodding thankfully. "Now tell me something serious."

Tommy wore a contemplative expression as he tried to think of something serious that Kimberly didn't know about him. It was more difficult than he'd expected, but then again she already knew pretty much everything there was to know about him, anyway.

"Oh, here's something I don't think I've told you before. I met the love of my life earlier this year," said Tommy, smiling when he watched the color start to drain from Kimberly's face. "You should see her, Kim. She's awesome; the prettiest thing you've ever seen with just these long, golden blonde locks."

"Please tell me you're joking," Kimberly muttered, a sickening feeling now resting firmly in the pit of her stomach.

"Nope," said Tommy, shaking his head. "Here, I'll show you a picture of her."

Grinning from ear to ear, Tommy flipped over and grabbed his wallet from the nightstand beside his bed. Opening it, he pulled out the picture he was looking for, rolled back over, and handed it to Kimberly who looked like she was about to lose control at any given moment.

Still, she took the picture with trembling hands only to realize she'd been played like a fiddle when she looked at it. The picture was one that had been staged and it showed Tommy in his parent's backyard in Angel Grove, wearing jeans and a black sweater as he squatted on the lawn with a big Golden Retriever resting on its hindquarters in front of him.

"Her name's Maggie; my parents got her for me for my birthday this year. Hayley's watching her for me right now, actually," Tommy continued, knowing that Kimberly had fallen for his ploy hook, line, and sinker.

Handing the picture back to Tommy, Kimberly shook her head and laughed. "She's gorgeous, but you're a dickhead for making me think you were interested in another woman."

"Kim, is that…is that jealousy I hear?" asked Tommy with a laugh of his own.

"No, it's me not even wanting to _think_ about you being with someone else. Completely different than being jealous," Kimberly answered firmly to Tommy's chagrin.

Tommy chuckled. "So you're telling me that you're the dictionary definition of jealous without actually being jealous?"

"Absolutely," said Kimberly, nodding confidently. Tommy opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off before he could say anything. "Don't even try it, Tommy. You know it's impossible to argue with Kim-logic."

"You're so weird sometimes," Tommy laughed, kissing the tip of her nose.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have it any other way," Kimberly replied, smiling when Tommy slipped his arm around her back and pulled her in close to his chest.

"Never," he whispered, lightly stroking her back. "So how about you? What are some things I don't know about you yet?"

Kimberly smiled sheepishly. "What do you want first, funny or serious?"

Tommy shrugged and then kissed her lips. "Surprise me," he answered.

"Alright, fine, I'll do something serious first," Kimberly answered, shaking her head as she swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. "When you showed up to the Pan Global's…I saw you in the stands, ran to the locker room as soon as I'd finished my routine, and then cried for three hours straight."

Tommy's eyes narrowed. "Why?" he asked, not really knowing what else to say.

"Because of everything that had happened between us. Not only had I broken up with you, but it was only a few weeks after Murianthis," said Kimberly, sighing. "Murianthis was when I realized I was never going to get over you, and then to have you show up to support me after what I'd put you through…it was just a bit overwhelming, I guess. I don't know many guys who would show up to support the ex-girlfriend that had just broken their heart."

Now it was Tommy's turn to swallow hard. "That first letter I wrote to you after you'd left home I promised that if you made the team I was going to be in New York for you. When I heard from Jason that you'd made the team, I knew I was gonna have to go. And for as much as I didn't want to, for as hard as it was for me to get on that plane to New York, as soon as I took my seat in the arena and saw you on the floor all I wanted to do was cheer you right to the gold medal."

Kimberly smiled at that. "It meant the world to me that you were there."

Tommy nodded. "I was glad to do it," he murmured, running his fingers through her long auburn tresses as he kissed her forehead. "Now what's something funny?"

"Oh, that's an easy one," Kimberly answered, laughing. "Sophomore year, three of my old teammates and I streaked the University of Miami's Fraternity Row in the middle of rush week and got arrested for indecent exposure. I ended up having to do a hundred hours of community service, talking to elementary and junior high kids about why they shouldn't drink."

"Should've ran faster," said Tommy teasingly, earning an eye roll and a playful slap to his chest from Kimberly. "Damn, Kim; abusive much?"

Kimberly chuckled. "Oh, quit your damn whining. You and I both know how much you like it when I play rough."

"Is that your way of telling me you're ready for another round?" asked Tommy, his fingertips dancing around the small of her back.

"Definitely," Kimberly breathed, kissing him. "Just not right now. I'm freaking starving."

Laughing, Tommy shook his head. "Way to kill the mood, Rocky," he teased, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position as he started to climb out of bed.

"Where are you going?" asked Kimberly.

Turning around, Tommy smiled when he caught Kimberly blushing at his naked body. "You said you were hungry so I'm gonna put some pants on and then go make us something for lunch. Unless you want to continue 'freaking starving,' that is."

"No thanks," Kimberly replied, shaking her head as she tossed the heavy white comforter from her body and started to stand. "What are you going to make me?" she continued, walking over to their now-shared dresser in search of something to wear.

Tommy shrugged as he pulled out a pair of black sweatpants and a matching tank top from one of the dresser drawers. "What do you want?" he asked, stepping into the pants. "Rocky is the one who went and did all of the grocery shopping so I'm sure that we're not exactly limited in our choices, either."

Kimberly laughed a knowing laugh. "You're actually gonna cook?" she asked, retrieving her desired ensemble of a white tank top and pink sweats with a red heart on the butt and the word _Breaker_ written underneath.

Yanking his own tank top over his head, Tommy nodded. "Yep," he answered, unable to look away from Kimberly as she started to get dressed.

"Since when do you cook?" questioned Kimberly, raising a curious eyebrow as she pulled on her sweatpants.

"Since I moved out of my parent's during my first semester of college and realized that it was either learn to cook or eat out for all my meals," said Tommy with a laugh.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "It's not like you couldn't have afforded it. Even back then you were making six-figures a year racing for your uncle and you know what the funny thing about that is? The thing I've never understood?"

"What's that?" asked Tommy as they started towards the bedroom door.

"You make more than pretty much all of us combined, but we'd never know it by the way you live," Kimberly replied, Tommy furrowing his brow. "You could afford a ten million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills and not even feel it, but you live in a modest house in the middle of the woods. You could afford a dozen Lamborghini's but you drive a mid-sized SUV that's going on six years old. You could afford to wear the most expensive designer clothes, but you wear Wal-Mart sweats and tee shirts that you've had since college. I don't get it, that's all."

Tommy chuckled awkwardly. "What makes you think I'm so loaded? I'm a high school science teacher, Kim, remember?"

Kimberly shook her head as she lead their march to the kitchen. "Oh yeah, because basement Command Center's just pay for and completely build themselves, right? Besides, Jason's told me about all your investments with Lightspeed Rescue, Bio-Tech and the Silver Guardians. I don't care how much you make, Tommy, I just think it's funny how you have all this money yet it doesn't seem like you spend it on anything."

Tommy scoffed. "Jason thinks he knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't even have half a clue as to what my bank account actually looks like."

Entering the second floor kitchen, Kimberly laughed as she lifted herself into a sitting position atop the center island while Tommy moved towards the refrigerator. "So Jason just happened to be exaggerating your financial success for no good reason?"

Tommy shook his head. "Exaggerating? No, it's more like severely underestimating," he replied, almost spitefully. More than anything in the world he hated when he was forced to talk about his own accomplishments, especially when it came to all of the money that he had made over the years. "Think of the highest paid athlete alive, the richest movie star or the most well known singer. Then take what they make out of what I already have, and I've still got enough to live extravagantly for the rest of my life without ever having to work another day. Now can we please move onto something else? I really don't like talking about this stuff."

"Why not?" asked Kimberly, slightly confused.

His shoulders sagging, Tommy sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Because the money doesn't matter to me, Kim; not even a little bit. I don't need it to be happy, and I never have. If I did then my living situation would clearly be much different. I didn't invest in all of those companies that you just mentioned to make a profit, I did it to help my friends. That I made a bunch of money in the process of doing it isn't important to me. On the list of things that matter in my life, money is all the way down at the bottom."

"You really are a special breed, Tommy. I don't know many people who have an outlook on life like that," said Kimberly, smiling as Tommy returned the gesture graciously. "So what are you gonna make us for lunch?" she continued, swinging her dangling legs back and forth.

"Come take a look at what we have and then tell me what you want," Tommy answered, beckoning for Kimberly to join him by the refrigerator.

Pushing off the counter Kimberly hopped to the ground and quickly crossed the small gap separating she and Tommy, the latter of whom pulled the refrigerator door open wide and motioned for her to look inside. After a few moments with her head in the fridge peeking around she knew exactly what she wanted.

"How about grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on sourdough?" asked Kimberly.

Tommy laughed. "I'm giving you my services as your personal chef and all you want is grilled cheese sandwiches?" he asked.

Kimberly nodded. "This isn't going to be some big production, Tommy," she answered with a smile. "I plan on having you back in that bed in no later than an hour."

"I knew you were just using me for my body," Tommy replied teasingly, earning a playful eye roll from Kimberly as he scooted behind her to gain access to the refrigerator. "Can you pull out that really big skillet in the bottom cabinet to your left for me while I get the food?"

"Of course," Kimberly murmured; sidestepping a few paces, she opened the cabinet and started searching for the skillet Tommy was in need of.

He emerged from the refrigerator a few seconds later, kicking the door shut with all the required supplies in hand just as Kimberly had recovered the skillet. Some twenty minutes later they were walking out of the kitchen en route to the living room, each holding a plate with a sandwich and some corn chips in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

In the living room they took up seats on a long, black leather couch that faced a 52" flat screen plasma television mounted on the wall. They both reached for the remote control resting on the oak coffee table at the same time but Tommy had the advantage in arm length and got to it first, grasping it with a triumphant smile.

"No fair," said Kimberly, frowning.

Tommy laughed. "All's fair in love and war, Beautiful," he replied, kissing her cheek.

Kimberly stuck her tongue out playfully as Tommy turned on the television and immediately went to ESPN. Nonetheless, she adjusted herself so that she leaned against Tommy's side with her feet stretched across the couch and the plate of food resting in her lap. It was from this vantage point that she first caught sight of two objects standing in the corner of the room that appeared to be plastic guitars.

"What are those?" asked Kimberly, pointing to the objects.

"Controllers for _Guitar Hero_," Tommy answered, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Zack brought it, I think."

Kimberly furrowed her brow. "_Guitar Hero_?" she questioned, Tommy nodding. "What's that?"

"It's this PlayStation game that just came out like a month or so ago," said Tommy. "Basically, the object is to play all these famous songs and the guitar is the controller. It has five different colored buttons at the top of the neck, and you have to hit those buttons while strumming to match the colored notes on the screen. If you miss too many notes, the crowd starts to boo you and you'll eventually get a game over if you keep missing notes The complexity of the song you choose determines how difficult it is to play. Considering you actually play the guitar, though, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard for you to pick up."

"Wanna play when we're done eating?" asked Kimberly, nibbling on a corn chip.

"You're serious?" questioned Tommy as Kimberly nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure; why not?"

Kimberly smiled. "You're gonna have to take it easy on me though, okay Handsome?"

Tommy laughed. "Trust me, Kim, I'm no pro. And like I said, with your experience you'll probably be kicking my ass in no time."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see," said Kimberly with a chuckle as she proceeded to dig into her lunch.

As soon as they had finished their sandwiches ten minutes later Kimberly stacked the plates and set them aside on the table as Tommy got up from his seat and went to work on getting the game set up. He returned to the couch shortly thereafter with a plastic guitar in each hand, one of which he extended to Kimberly. Using the remote control, he changed the television to the proper channel just as the Activision logo crossed the screen.

"Do you want to watch me play one first so you can kind of see how the game goes?" asked Tommy.

"Sure," Kimberly answered with a smile, pulling the guitar strap around her shoulder. She watched Tommy as he went from the start screen to the main menu and then back to the start screen before quickly pressing a series of buttons. "What are you doing?"

"Putting in the code to unlock all the songs," said Tommy. "I didn't see Rocky's memory card so we'd only get to play like, the first five songs. The other ones you have to unlock by playing them to completion in career mode. With the code, we can play all of the songs on the game."

"Cool," Kimberly breathed, not really understanding anything that Tommy was saying. She wasn't much for video games, but she'd offered to play because it had seemed like something that Tommy was interested in.

Using the strum bar at the base of the controller, Tommy flipped through the list of songs until he'd found the one he was searching for, "Aces of Spades" by Motörhead. "I'm gonna play it on hard just 'cause I'm used to it," he told her as the song started to load. "We can do it on easy when we play, though."

Kimberly just nodded as the game came to life showing Tommy's chosen animated guitarist on a stage of bright lights. Then the song started to play and Tommy's fingers were flying back and forth across the multicolored panel of buttons, his other hand slapping the white plastic strum bar in near constantly perfect timing with the notes moving across the screen.

"See this red one coming up on the left?" asked Tommy.

"Yeah," Kimberly answered.

"When it's got that long line after it like that," Tommy replied, hitting the strum bar and holding the colored button in place. "Every note gets you points and to get maximum points for one of these you have to hold the fret buttons in place until the line has ended. And if you want to bend notes, move this silver whammy bar around like this. It doesn't get you any extra points or anything, but it's still a cool little feature."

"Got it," Kimberly murmured, nodding her confirmation.

Three minutes, a score of ninety-seven percent, and a few more instructions later Tommy was back at the screen to choose songs as he turned to look at Kimberly. "Use the strum bar to move through the list and choose what song you want to play."

"Don't need to," Kimberly replied, smiling back at him as she pressed the button to select her chosen song just like she'd seen Tommy do.

"Joan Jett, huh?" Tommy questioned with a laugh. "Well, I do love rock and roll."

"Ladies and gentleman, Corny Tommy has finally returned," Kimberly teased as their guitarists appeared on the screen.

Tommy sneered playfully. "I was gonna take it easy on you, but now I'm just gonna have to kick your ass for that little comment."

Kimberly laughed. "Oooh, I'm _soooo_ scared," she replied sarcastically as the first series of notes showed themselves, moving at a pace that was strikingly reminiscent to the crawl of a dying snail.

Going so slow, it wasn't even a challenge for Kimberly to hit the notes. Midway through the song she hadn't missed a single note and didn't hesitate to let Tommy in on this fact.

"Kim," said Tommy with a laugh. "We're playing one of the easiest songs in the game on the easiest difficulty level possible. I can play this with the guitar behind my back and my back to the TV."

"Then show your skills, hotshot," Kimberly countered, content to continue playing just as she was until Tommy paused the game and stood up. Not really thinking he could actually do it, she thought he was just trying to impress her again, but as long as he was doing it in a manner that wasn't idiotically dangerous she wasn't going to make an issue out of it.

Smirking the whole time Tommy swung the guitar behind his back and turned around, winking at Kimberly before returning to playing the game. Despite her nonchalant reply to his proclamation of skill, Kimberly found herself staring at the screen with her mouth agape when Tommy hit every single note in near perfect succession, the whole time oblivious to the fact that he could see the reflection of the television in the mirror that hung above the couch.

"I thought you said you weren't a pro at this," said Kimberly, turning to Tommy as the song reached its end.

"I'm not," Tommy replied, smirking. "I just have really good hand-eye coordination; plus the notes move so slow on that song that it's damn near impossible to miss more than one or two, even playing backwards."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain how you can play without seeing the TV," Kimberly countered, shaking her head. "And don't say you memorized the notes because we both know _that's_ a lie."

Tommy laughed. "I didn't memorize them," he replied, swinging the guitar around to point the neck towards the wall above the couch.

Kimberly craned her neck to look at the mirror. Upon realizing what had happened she looked to Tommy and rolled her eyes. "You're such a little cheater," she said with a laugh. "Now I'm actually going to have to kick _your_ ass at this."

Tommy raised a curious eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

"It is," Kimberly answered, nodding firmly.

"What are the stakes?" asked Tommy.

Kimberly smiled, replying in a seductive whisper, "Winner gets to be on top."

Swallowing the lump that had just manifested itself in his throat, Tommy forced himself to laugh as he plopped down next to her on the couch. "You're on," he murmured, offering her a handshake to seal the deal.

Kimberly took his hand and squeezed it with all the strength her tiny body could muster. "You are _so_ going down."

Tommy just shook his head. "What song are we playing and what difficulty level?"

"I'm gonna close my eyes and pick the song randomly," Kimberly answered. "We'll play it on medium since easy is so slow."

Nodding, Tommy watched the screen as Kimberly closed her eyes tightly and started moving the strum bar back and forth, holding it in place at random intervals before going the other direction. She did this for roughly twenty seconds and then, with her eyes still closed, chose the song she'd highlighted.

"Ouch," Tommy murmured, Kimberly's eyes snapping open as she turned her head to him.

"Ouch?" she questioned, Tommy nodding. "What do you mean, ouch?"

"I mean, ouch," Tommy replied, chuckling. "You'll see why in a few seconds."

Kimberly rolled her eyes and muttered something none too nice under her breath as she looked at the screen telling her that the song was currently loading, an act that had Tommy grinning from ear to ear.

"Jeez, tell me how you really feel, Kim," he said jokingly.

"Maybe I will," Kimberly countered, sticking her tongue out at him. Then the name of the song appeared in the upper left corner of the screen and she felt her shoulders deflate. "Ouch," she muttered, biting her bottom lip.

Having heard and attempted to play Ozzy Osborne's "Bark at the Moon" numerous times she knew that the guitar parts were extremely difficult. And with Tommy's experience playing the game she severely doubted her ability to beat him.

"We can play another song if you want," Tommy offered as he paused the game prior to the song staring, feeling a bit like he was taking advantage of her even in a wager where the stakes were win-win.

Silently, Kimberly shook her head fiercely. Her competitive spirit—that which had driven her from the very first moment she had experienced the thrill of victory—just would not allow her to back away from a bet she'd firmly agreed to. They were going to play under the original terms and if she lost, then so be it.

"Let's play," she muttered through gritted teeth.

Tommy just nodded and did as instructed. Only on a handful of occasions had he seen Kimberly enter this mode she'd gone into, and after the first time he'd learned the hard way not to push her buttons when she was like this.

The notes moved faster than before, causing Kimberly to focus her total attention on the massive television screen. Had Tommy been able to look at her he would have seen a look of pure determination written across her face, utter defiance in her absolute refusal to lose.

Knowing how badly she wanted to win, Tommy gave momentary thought to the notion of subtly throwing the game in her favor, but if she caught on to him—and he was pretty sure that she would—then he'd probably end up on the receiving end of some long lecture about how she wanted to be treated equally, how he wouldn't do that for the guys so he shouldn't do it for her, either. Rather quickly that idea was tossed into the garbage pile with a quiet laugh and a discreet shake of his head.

Surprisingly, at the midway point of the song they were nearly neck and neck; in fact, Tommy was completely dumbfounded when he checked the scores to see that Kimberly had the advantage. It was a meager three hundred points, nothing he couldn't make up in a matter of moments, but it was an advantage regardless. He'd been playing the game for a month, she'd been playing it for fifteen minutes and she was beating him!

"Looks like you're catching on quick," said Tommy, trying to get inside her head.

"Yep," Kimberly muttered, her eyes maintaining their sole focus on the television screen.

"You might actually beat me," Tommy continued.

Alas, it was to no avail. "Maybe," Kimberly replied, giving him absolutely nothing to work with.

In the end, it was Tommy's attempts to mess with Kimberly that turned out to be the cause of his undoing. More focused on her than the game, he somehow managed to miss a series of twelve quick notes and after that there was just no coming back, not when Kimberly was playing the game like she had owned it for years.

When the song ended it was Kimberly's guitarist who stood on the stage with her guitar in hand, the crowd cheering her on and her arms raised towards the sky in victory. Rising to her feet, Kimberly removed her guitar from around her shoulder and mimicked this pose. Inhaling deeply, she looked to Tommy and smiled. "Smell that, Tommy? It's the delicious scent of me utterly and undisputedly kicking your ass by well over two thousand points."

"What can I say?" questioned Tommy, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. "I told you you'd be a natural at it," he continued, smiling as he stood up and moved to put the controllers away. After tucking them back in the corner and turning off the PlayStation and television he returned to Kimberly, standing just inches in front of her. "And now, my dear," he murmured seductively, "I'm all yours to have your way with."

--


	3. Chapter 3

_**Title: The Merriest of Christmases**_

_**Summary: Every year, during the week before Christmas the Rangers all get together to celebrate the holidays with each other. For seven years this has been their tradition, and for just as long Tommy and Kimberly have had a little tradition of their own. Unfortunately, this year brings confliction to their tradition, making them both wonder if the path they're going on is the right one.**_

_**Timeline: Takes place the year after Dino Thunder**_

_**Rating: T (a mature version to this story is being posted as well)**_

_**Chapter: 3/5**_

_**Original Posting Date: December 14, 2008**_

_--_

_Monday, December 19, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_12:45 pm_

Tommy emerged from his bedroom for the first time since waking thirty minutes ago and immediately headed for the stairs. After a long night of drinking and dancing at a club across state borders in Reno the night before, he was only just now getting this new day started. Fresh out of the shower he wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a hooded, forest green and orange University of Miami sweatshirt that Kimberly had given to him a few years back as he descended the steps in search of her and the others, if they were even still in the house at all.

His first instinct took him to the kitchen thinking that they might be eating breakfast, but then he found the room empty and remembered that it was the afternoon already. With a laugh he shook his head and started towards the game room which was empty as well, but not before snagging a water bottle from the refrigerator and an apple from the fruit bowl that sat atop the kitchen table.

Eventually he found his friends sitting in the living room watching a movie; most of his friends, anyway. The ladies, including Kimberly, were all conspicuously absent from the group. "Where are the girls?" asked Tommy, announcing his presence to them as he entered the room.

"They left about an hour ago," Billy answered, Tommy nodding. "Since Kim, Kat, and Tanya aren't going to be present for Trini's baby shower in January they all decided to have their own little celebration with her today. I believe that they were going out to lunch in town and then going shopping."

Tommy nodded. "Which means that with Kim there they're going to be gone for at least another three hours," he laughed, taking a seat in one of the three recliners spread out across the room as the others joined his laughter knowingly. "What are we watching?"

Raising an eyebrow, Jason turned to look at Tommy as if his old friend had just told him that the sky was actually purple instead of blue. "A guy in a black bat suit is using a cape to fly around a dark city," he replied, shaking his head. "What do _you_ think we're watching, Tommy?"

Laughing, Tommy started to reply with a witty comeback only to be cut off by Zack who had picked up the remote control and put _Batman Begins_ on pause. "So now that Tommy's here and the girls aren't, I think we should finish talking about the thing tonight."

"What thing?" asked Tommy, furrowing his brow.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Some bar on the south shore is having a karaoke competition tonight. Entry fee is fifty bucks and the winner takes home a guaranteed thousand dollars, possibly more depending on how many people actually end up entering. Zack seems to think we have a pretty good chance at winning if we go Alpha Phi Kappa."

Tommy shook his head defiantly. "Nope; not happening. There is no way in Hell that I am going to relive that night. It was a one time thing that I did under the influence of multiple alcoholic beverages on Halloween to impress a bunch of dumb sorority girls and it is _never _going to happen again."

"Oh, come on, Tommy," said Rocky, chuckling. "If I remember right that ended up being a damn good night for all of us. And whether you're willing to admit it or not, we all know how much fun you had doing it."

Billy cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me, but I still haven't been fully informed as to the details of what you're presently discussing," he interjected, five heads turning to him as he rolled his eyes. "I said that I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Oh," Jason murmured, nodding as he remembered that Billy had been on Aquitar when the event they were discussing had occurred. Still, he didn't continue speaking until Billy shot a glare his way. From there, Jason started to tell the story and pretty soon the others were all jumping in as well, filling in their own personal remembrances of that night as they all roared with laughter at the memories.

"You guys actually did that?" asked Billy, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Oh yeah!" Rocky answered, jokingly slapping Adam's arm from across the couch. "Remember that girl, bro? The one who came up to us afterwards and said she wanted to do all five of us at the same time?"

Shaking his head, Adam let out a quiet laugh. "Don't remind me, man. All I remember is thinking that Tanya was going to somehow magically appear from across the country, drag me out of that sorority house and kick my ass right there on the front lawn in front of everyone."

"Ahh, the good old days," Rocky muttered, folding his hands behind his head as he laid back against the couch.

"So are we going to do this or what?" asked Zack, looking around at his friends. "Billy, we could always use a sixth member, man."

"Having a sixth member would require having five members in the first place, bro," Tommy interjected, narrowing his eyes at Zack. "What makes you think that the rest of us are all willing to do it?"

Zack shrugged. "Because Jase, Rocko, Adam, and I have already agreed to do it; because it'll be fun; because the girls will all be impressed and everyone here knows that good things have a tendency to happen when the girls are impressed."

While the rest of the group laughed their agreement, Tommy rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and sighed. "I really have no desire to do this again, guys."

Rocky scoffed. "Come on, Tommy," he practically whined. "You'll do a striptease while snowboarding down a mountain but you won't get on stage for five minutes and sing karaoke with your boys in front of a bunch of people you'll probably never even see again?"

Tommy furrowed his brow, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Well, when you put it _that_ way," he muttered, Rocky's retort giving him little wiggle room to escape. "Alright, I'll do it. But if we're really going to do this, we're going to do it the right way. Do any of you guys have a copy of the song?"

Four hands—those belonging to the embarrassed forms of Adam, Jason, Rocky, and Zack—all went into the air at the exact same time, causing Tommy to shake his head. "Alright then; Jase, why don't you go get the song while the rest of us clear this stuff out. Billy, do you want in on this one?"

With Jason slipping out through the door behind the couch, the first Blue Ranger wore a look that was almost horrified as he shook his head vehemently. "Absolutely not, Tommy," he answered, chuckling. "I'm more than happy to sit with the girls and be amused while you all embarrass yourselves onstage."

Rocky rolled his eyes. "Thanks for all of the encouragement, Billy-man."

"You're most welcome, Rocky," Billy replied, smiling and nodding.

"Alright," said Tommy, standing up and clapping his hands together. "Let's get some of this stuff moved out of the way so we can get down to business. Which reminds me; do you all have tank tops and dress shirts that match your Ranger colors?"

Adam nodded as he and Tommy moved to lift the larger of the two couches. "We already talked about that. I think Rocky's gonna go with blue and I'm gonna do green so that we're not wearing the same colors as Jason and Zack."

"Good call," Tommy replied, carrying the couch to the far back corner of the room. By the time they'd finished moved the two couches, three recliners, and the coffee table Jason had just returned with his iPod and a portable dock in one hand and a fistful of clothes in the other.

"Here you go, bro," said Jason, tossing a pair of basketball shorts to Tommy. As he and Zack were already wearing sweats, Jason had grabbed some extra shorts for Adam, Rocky, and Tommy that way they didn't have to waste more time while they went upstairs to change.

Snatching the black shorts out of the air, Tommy looked at them and nodded. "Cool, man; thanks," he replied.

Unbuttoning his jeans he pulled down his pants and shamelessly started to change into the shorts, momentarily leaving the living room looking like a locker room as Adam and Rocky did the same. Jason just laughed, shaking his head as he walked across the room to get the iPod all set up.

Once the music had been prepared and everyone was in more flexible attire, the group sans Billy who watched from afar reconvened at the center of the room. Immediately they started to spread out, and as they took up their familiar positions Tommy, standing at the center of the group, turned his head to Billy.

"Can you hit the play button on the iPod, bro?" asked Tommy, Billy nodding as he walked towards the device and the dock it rested in. Hanging his head, Tommy signaled for the others to do the same which they did just as the music started to play. "Alright, from the top let's do it," he continued in a singsong tone.

Every ounce of shame Tommy had fled his body from the moment they started singing. For nearly two and a half hours they went over their old routine, rehearsing until they could barely even stand on their own two feet. As soon as he'd agreed to do this Tommy had gone into leader mode, his own competitive spirit coming out in his desire to win the contest and so he pushed them; maybe a little too hard considering the nature of the contest, but the others all understood and honestly wanted to win just as badly.

Again, Tommy didn't care about the prize money. But after Kimberly had so thoroughly whooped him at _Guitar Hero _the day before he was determined not to lose a competition for the second time in a row.

They'd just finished the song for what had to be the twentieth time when they heard the front door creak open. "Boys, we're home!" Kimberly and Katherine called out in unison. "Where are you?" Kimberly continued.

"Living room!" Tommy yelled back, quickly looking around at his friends as he rushed to turn off the music before the song could start repeating itself again. "We were sparring, okay?"

The guys all nodded their understanding just as their six significant others entered the living room carrying an ungodly amount of bags from their shopping excursion. Seeing five of the six men covered in sweat and the furniture all pushed aside, Tanya looked at Adam with a curious expression. "What are you guys doing in here?" she laughed.

"Sparring!" all six men chorused in perfect unison, so obviously covering for what they had actually been up to.

None of the girls believed their men for a second, but it wasn't like they could just call them out on it with no real proof. "You guys are terrible liars," Aisha teasingly scoffed as she turned for the kitchen with a shake of her head.

"Seriously; that was clearly rehearsed," added Trini, laughing as she followed after Aisha.

Without saying a word Rocky and Billy hurried to catch up with them. And when Angela and Tanya left as well, Zack and Adam did the same thing, leaving Jason, Katherine, Tommy, and Kimberly alone in the living room.

"So what were you guys _really_ doing in here?" asked Kimberly, walking over to where Tommy stood near Jason. He opened his arms for a hug but pushed his chest in rejection, giggling when he started chasing her around the room in a Frankenstein-esque pose. "Eww, get away from me; you're all sweaty and gross!"

"Come on, Kim, you're wearing a jacket. You won't even feel it," Tommy pleaded, giving up as he turned back to where Jason and Katherine were standing side by side and laughing. "See what I have to deal with?"

Katherine frowned. "Aww, is wittle Tommy not feeling loved enough?" she countered sarcastically, Tommy rolling his eyes at his former girlfriend. "Roll them again and I'm pulling them right out of the sockets. Is that understood, mister?"

Tommy looked at Katherine and for the briefest of moments thought about sneering at her. Then he thought better of it, swallowed hard, and nodded his head sheepishly.

"Ouch, burned by the cat lady!" said Kimberly, laughing as she wrapped her arms around Tommy's waist from behind, giving him the hug that he was looking for. "There, now go get cleaned up."

"Why?" asked Tommy, turning around in her arms to face her.

Kimberly smiled. "Because we drove out to South Lake, saw an outdoor ice skating rink, and want to go ice skating," she answered, giving him her best pouted lips and puppy dog eyes. "You wouldn't say no to your Beautiful, would you Tommy?"

Chuckling, Tommy shook his head. "We can go ice skating," he replied, Kimberly beaming happily as she accepted his offered kiss. "But we have to be at Turn 3 by nine thirty, okay?"

"The sports bar in South Lake?" questioned Kimberly as Tommy nodded. "What's out there?"

"It's a surprise," Jason interjected quickly, just in case. "You'll have to wait and see, but we can promise you that it will _definitely_ be worth it when you do," he continued, turning to Tommy and smiling. "Oh, and by the way…you are _so_ whipped, bro."

Tommy opened his mouth for a retort, but Kimberly came to his defense before he could get a single word out. "Look who's talking, Mr. I-Think-I'm-a-Macho-Man," she interjected, waving her hand flippantly at Jason. "Did Kat ask you to go, Jase? Nope. You know why? Because she doesn't have to. I mean, what's the point in wasting her breath when she already knows that you're going to say yes to whatever she says, anyway?"

"Ouch, burned by the short lady," Katherine hissed in Jason's ear to his dismay.

"Whatever," Jason grumbled, folding his arms across his chest defiantly.

Shaking his head, Tommy let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Alright, since this conversation is clearly moving on the fast track to Nowheresville I'm going to go take a shower and get changed. I'll see you guys in a few," he informed his nodding friends as he turned towards Kimberly. "You coming?"

"Mmm, I hope so," Kimberly whispered so only he could hear her reply.

Craning sideways to look at her, Tommy just smiled as he bent down to pick up his jeans.

--

_Monday, December 19, 2005_

_South Lake Tahoe, CA_

_4:15 pm_

With the arm of his black parka draped around Kimberly's shoulder and her pink gloved hand resting in the back pocket of his matching ski pants, Tommy smiled as he whispered sweet nothings in her ear, pecking a kiss to the side of the white stocking cap covering her head as he guided them towards a long wooden bench that was one of many surrounding the perimeter of the ice skating rink.

Behind them followed the rest of the group who took up seats along the bench as well, all of them but Billy and Trini carrying rented pairs of ice skates in various colors. Again, it was an activity that was potentially dangerous to the well being of their unborn child, and again Billy was sitting out to keep his wife company. The only reason they hadn't stayed behind was because the others weren't coming back to the house before going to the sports bar where the karaoke competition was being held.

"Man, I haven't ice skated in years," said Rocky, his breath a cloud of steam in the atmosphere as he started to untie his tan work boots.

"Me neither," Kimberly replied, pulling the tiny left skate over her foot. "The last time I did this was like three years ago. I'm probably going to wipe out on my ass within the first five minutes of being out on the ice."

Bent over as he worked on tying his skates, Tommy gently leaned into her side when she said that. "Don't worry, Beautiful," he whispered, barely brushing the knuckle side of his right hand against her thigh. "I'll be right there to pick you back up if you fall."

Kimberly smiled sweetly. "Thanks," she murmured as she carefully pushed herself onto her feet and then reached out for his hands. "Okay, up you go, Handsome," she continued, pulling him up with her before turning to the first Yellow Ranger she had served with. "Tri, can you watch the shoes for us, please?"

Wrapped warmly in Billy's embrace as she nursed the Styrofoam cup in her gloved hands filled with steaming hot cocoa, Trini looked at Kimberly and smiled softly. "Sure thing, Kim," she answered, nodding.

"Thanks, Tri," said Kimberly, slipping her hand into Tommy's. "See you out on the ice, guys."

Taking short, careful steps on the blades of their skates Tommy and Kimberly walked hand-in-hand towards the rink's entrance, coming to a stop just inches in front of the ice. "You ready to go?" asked Tommy, his voice soft in a way that had Kimberly clinging to his every word.

"Mmhmm," was her simple answer, squeezing Tommy's hand as they slowly stepped out onto the shimmering ice. They pushed with their skates in unison and then they were off, gliding smoothly around the inner perimeter of the rink along with a dozen or so other patrons. "So are you going to tell me what you and the rest of the guys are up to tonight, or what?"

Tommy laughed. "Nope," he replied, shaking his head even as Kimberly gave him a look that told him he should give serious consideration to rethinking his answer. "Kim, I'm not going to tell you now and ruin the surprise. Trust me, when you actually see what we're doing for yourself, up close and personal, you're going to be extremely happy that I didn't say anything to you beforehand."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "I think you should tell me just because you forced me to have a sexless morning by choosing to sleep in until noon."

"You're really not going to give up until I tell you, are you?" asked Tommy rhetorically, Kimberly smiling as she shook her head. "Then I guess you're going to be in for a disappointing next couple of hours."

"Fine, have it your way. I'm sure Palmela Handerson and her five friends will be glad to keep you company tonight," said Kimberly, looking at Tommy defiantly in a way that dared him to call her bluff.

With narrowed eyes Tommy raised a curious eyebrow at her. "You wouldn't…" he started.

"Oh yeah?" questioned Kimberly, swinging their arms back and forth as they skated. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

Looking hard at her, Tommy did not immediately reply. Instead he relinquished his hold on her hand and moved his hand to the small of her back, guiding her to the wall surrounding the rink. Rather quickly Kimberly found herself trapped between Tommy in front of her and the wall behind her. Gazing deeply into her eyes, Tommy slowly removed his glove and raised the back of his hand to her cheek.

"Because when I touch you I can feel you tremble," Tommy murmured, Kimberly trying to remain defiant even as her body betrayed her mind. And then he kissed her, briefly but with passionate intent. "Because when we kiss I know you've never kissed another guy the same way that you kiss me."

Kimberly squeezed her eyes shut tightly. "Being with you is like a drug," she admitted in a whisper, slowly allowing her eyes to flutter open and meet his. "You're the last thing on my mind when I go to sleep at night and the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning. It scares me to know how badly I need you in my life."

Tommy smiled as he reached out and tilted her chin, tenderly kissing her lips. "I love you, Kim."

"I love you too, Tommy," Kimberly replied, hugging him for a few silent moments.

Pushing back a bit, Tommy's hand drifted down until he was holding Kimberly's once more. "Come on," he said softly, tugging her back into the moderately-sized stream of people that were currently circling the rink. "You know," he continued, maintaining his hold on her hand as he raised her arm up and over her head until his own arm was around her shoulder, "I think this is a place I'd like to live when I retire."

"Really?" asked Kimberly, leaning into his embrace.

"Yeah," Tommy answered, smiling down at her as he pecked a kiss to her cheek. "I mean, it's beautiful all year round, the weather is never bad enough to be intolerable regardless of the season, and plus I've kind of always had a thing for the small town atmosphere."

Kimberly chuckled as she laid the side of her head against his arm. "Yeah, it's definitely a pretty little area that's for sure," she replied quietly, silently imagining where she wanted her future to go. "I guess I could see myself living here."

"By yourself?" questioned Tommy with a curious expression simply because he needed to test the waters. Never one for the spotlight, he craved her approval in ways that he couldn't even begin to explain. She was his only weakness. His Kryptonite; the one thing in his life that had the power to seize control over everything that he was as a man.

"Maybe," Kimberly whispered, looking into his eyes. "Or with someone special."

Smiling, as he closed his eyes Tommy could only hope that that someone special turned out to be him. He knew that he was in love with Kimberly, and even more certain that he would never love any other woman as much as he loved her because just the mere thought of life without her left his heart stinging painfully.

"So what are you doing for the holidays?" asked Tommy, giving her hand a squeeze. "After this and all, I mean. Are you getting together with your family or anything like that?"

His question left Kimberly flinching briefly before she regained her composure and sighed with a shake of her head. "No," she answered, almost sadly. "We all live so far apart now that with taking this trip I couldn't afford to leave my school alone long enough to take another extended vacation like I'd have to."

Tommy smiled as he looked down at her. "What about a short one?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kimberly, furrowing her brow in confusion.

The former leader of the Power Rangers shrugged. "I dunno," he mumbled. "I was just thinking since you don't have any other plans that maybe you might like to spend Christmas with me and my family in Angel Grove. No one should be alone on Christmas and I know my that parents would love to see you again. Every time we talk they always ask me how you're doing. And I'm only going for a few days so it's not like you'd have to leave your school alone for very much longer."

Kimberly was so taken aback by his offer that she didn't immediately know what to say. She just looked into his eyes for the longest time, trying desperately to gather her jumbled thoughts into something that remotely resembled coherency. Her head said no, but her heart said yes. What was it that Tommy had said to her in his room on the first day of the trip?

"_Most people are too afraid to listen to their hearts, but you do it enough for all of us. It's something I've always admired about you."_

Oh yeah, that. She'd be nothing more than a common hypocrite if she ignored the calling of her heart now.

"I'd love to, Tommy," she murmured, craning her neck for a kiss that Tommy gave to her more than willingly. "But before I can commit for sure I need to call my school and make sure my instructors aren't going crazy without me there."

Tommy smiled and nodded understandingly. "Of course," he replied, rubbing her arm as she slipped her hand into his back pocket. Moments later something else that he had said popped into her head.

"Your parents really ask about me?" she questioned, Tommy nodding.

"Oh yeah," he answered with a chuckle. "My mom's always trying to get me to convince you to fly out for more than just this week so they can see you. Of the girlfriends who've made it home to meet mom and dad you were always their favorite."

Kimberly couldn't help but to smile at that as she leaned further into his embrace. "I love your parents," she replied, losing herself in Tommy's eyes. "They were always so warm to me. I just can't believe they still like me after what I did to you."

Tommy laughed. "That was a long time ago, Kim," he reminded her. "Even when it had just happened they were never mad at you. They understood that the decision you made was one you needed to make for yourself. Besides, we were only sixteen back then. How many parents honestly think that their son is going to be with his first high school girlfriend forever?"

Shaking her head, Kimberly knew she couldn't argue with that. Despite the deep seeded feelings that they had held for each other in high school, the odds of them being anything more than a typical teenage romance had never been their favor.

"You know, I think I'm going to go with you regardless. It'd be nice to see your parents after all these years," said Kimberly, gazing deeply into his eyes. "And I'm not going to complain about being able to spend a few more days with you, either."

Tommy just smiled as they continued to skate laps around the rink. Soon enough, though, as it started to grow dark it became time for the rink to close and the group was inevitably forced to leave. Surrounded by their friends, Tommy and Kimberly walked hand-in-hand through the parking lot towards his and Jason's vehicles.

"So where are we going from here?" asked Katherine as a general question, one that was directed specifically to her male friends who were taking the reins on the remainder of the evening's events.

"We still have a couple hours before we need to be where we're going," said Zack cryptically. "Why don't we go grab a bite to eat or something?"

Rocky grinned widely as he clasped Zack on the shoulder. "You read my mind, man."

The whole group laughed at that, and after a quick discussion on what they wanted for dinner they were off. Adam and Tanya rode with Tommy and Kimberly in Tommy's Jeep while everyone else rode in Jason's oversized Suburban, driving to their next destination on a night that was only just getting started.

--

_Monday, December 19, 2005_

_Turn 3 Sports Bar_

_South Lake Tahoe, CA_

_8:30 pm_

Standing in the men's restroom, Tommy gripped the edge of the granite sink counter as he looked himself in the mirror while feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet. He could see the goofy, lopsided grins of his friends standing behind him which only made him feel like more of an idiot for what he was about to do.

"Give me the damn shirt," Tommy grumbled, rolling his eyes when he saw the reflection of Jason pumping his fist victoriously. Not even bothering to turn around, he reached back and waited until he felt the garment in his hand before raising it in front of his face and studying it with a shake of his head. "This is easily one of the stupidest things I have ever done."

"It's also going to be one of the funniest things you've ever done," said Zack, laughing when Tommy shot him a glare in the mirror as he started to disrobe.

Ski pants, parka, and sweatshirt all came off to reveal Tommy standing there in jeans and a thin white tank top. He handed Jason his clothes which were then stuffed into a duffel bag with the rest of their outerwear, kicking himself for agreeing to do this as he slipped into a white, long sleeved dress shirt. To match his friends who were wearing similar shirts in their various Ranger colors, the garment was left un-tucked and the top three buttons undone to reveal the hard planes of his pectoral muscles.

"Are we really going to go through with this, guys?" asked Tommy, slowly turning around to face his friends.

Adam, Jason, Rocky, and Zack were all smiles as they nodded their confirmation, in turn causing Tommy to sigh deeply. "Oh, get over it, Tommy. Don't be such a drama queen," Rocky replied with a chuckle. "As soon as we're done you're going to be glad that you did this. And like Zack mentioned earlier, the girls are going to love it."

Tommy scoffed. "I don't doubt that, Rocky. I'm more worried about my ability to love myself once this is all said and done."

"Then don't do it, man. No one's forcing you to do anything you don't want to do," Jason interjected, frustration evident in his voice. "We're going to do it no matter what, but the more you bitch about it the less fun you're making it for the rest of us. Don't ruin our fun just because your little mangina is sore."

"My mangina?" questioned Tommy, laughing as Jason nodded. The former White Ranger knew what his old friend was trying to do, playing to that part of him that yearned to be the best at everything he did. And though he knew exactly what Jason was doing that didn't prevent it from working to absolute perfection. "Alright, you know what? I'm doing it. And you know why?" he continued, the others shaking their heads as he backpedaled towards the exit while tapping his chest with both hands. "Because I'm the lead singer of the band, bitches!"

With that Tommy let out a whoop and spun on his heels, pushing the door open as he left in search of Kimberly. Unfortunately, Turn 3 was a fairly large establishment and finding her wasn't as easy as he'd hoped. There was a room with pool tables, dart boards, classic pinball machines and plasma televisions on the wall, but she wasn't there. Nor was she near the bar or the restaurant areas.

When he finally found her she was sitting with the other women, huddled around one of many circular tables that fronted the stage where the karaoke competition would be taking place in a few minutes. It was clear to Tommy almost as soon as he started walking towards them that their current conversation was one intended to be discreet, so he at least gave the courtesy of clearing his throat to announce his presence once he was within earshot of their table.

"Oh, hey Tommy," said Kimberly, smiling as he moved to stand behind her with a hand on each of her shoulders.

"Hey, Beautiful," Tommy replied, pecking a kiss to her cheek that earned him approving smiles from the other women.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Katherine, sipping a Cosmopolitan.

Looking over his shoulder, Tommy turned back to Katherine and shrugged. "I don't know to be honest with you," he answered, chuckling. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere, though. Probably getting drinks or something."

"They're they are," Trini interjected a few moments later, pointing behind Tommy to where the five remaining males were entering the room. Judging by the glasses that they were all carrying, two in Jason's case, it seemed Tommy had been right in assuming they had made a pit stop at the bar.

Walking up to his friend, Jason smiled as he offered the glass to Tommy. "Little liquid courage for you there, Mr. Lead Singer."

Kimberly furrowed her brow at that. "Lead singer?" she asked as Tommy took the glass with a murmured thank you.

"Inside joke. You know, since he was the leader of the team and everything," Zack answered with a laugh and a wink, distracting the girls while Adam jammed his elbow discreetly into Jason's side.

Before anyone could question this further the lights suddenly went off and a single spotlight appeared on the stage as a decent sized group of people, started making their way over to see what was happening, most of them locals in their twenties with a few tourists aged across the board splashed in here and there. As the club manager walked out onto the stage in jeans and a black polo, a microphone in hand to address the crowd and inform them of what was happening this evening, the former male Rangers all shared smiles that their significant others could not see.

So perfect had their timing been that the girls hadn't even had time to question the fact that all of the guys except for Billy had changed into outfits that were oddly quite similar if one looked passed the obvious color differences. Taking up seats at the table next to the girls the guys all turned to meet the eyes of their significant others, both tables waiting to see who would make the first move.

In the end it was Tommy, Jason, and Billy who walked over to the other table with drinks in hand, and as soon as they had done so Aisha, Angela, and Tanya and all got up to go to the table where Adam, Rocky, and Zack were still sitting. Taking the now empty seat next to Kimberly, Tommy looked over at her to find her staring back at him in disbelief.

"You guys are really doing karaoke?" asked Kimberly, raising a curious eyebrow.

Tommy laughed. "Of course not," he scoffed, shaking his head. "For as long as we've known each other, do you really think I'm the type of guy who's going to get up on stage and make an ass out of myself like that?"

Kimberly smiled, having no room to really argue with that. "No, I guess not," she murmured, scooting in close to Tommy as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, settling in as the first performer stepped onto the stage.

From the moment he set eyes on the visibly drunk man walking onto the stage, Jason found himself unable to prevent the laughter he tried so hard to stifle from bursting out. The man was in his mid-forties, dressed to the nines in full cowboy attire with a gut the size of four fully inflated basketballs hanging over the waistband of jeans that were at least a size too small.

Almost instantly an embarrassed Katherine threw her hand over her husband's mouth and held it here. "Jason Lee Scott, you calm yourself right this instant," the pretty Aussie hissed into his ear. "You have no right to laugh at that man. At least he has the balls to get up there and do it."

Jason almost started to defend himself but was silenced when he felt both Billy and Tommy kick his shins beneath the table.

Unfortunately, as soon as the man started to belt out his rendition of the Garth Brooks' classic "Friends In Low Places" Katherine was laughing right along with her husband and the rest of their table. It was so terribly off key, the man's voice cracking at least a dozen times throughout the song. Hell, he'd even hiccupped a few times during the first chorus.

"Man, I think even _I _could sing better than that," Tommy whispered to the others as the man walked off the stage to a handful of courtesy claps.

Kimberly raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh you think so, huh?" she questioned, Tommy smiling as he nodded. "It's not as easy as it looks, you know. Everyone thinks they sound good when they're singing in the car or shower, but it's hard to get on a stage and do it in front of a crowd no matter how big or small it is."

Tommy shrugged noncommittally. "Eh, I still think that I could do it," he replied, Kimberly rolling her eyes.

"Then stop talking about it and go sign up," said Kimberly, calling his bluff.

"I'll do it if you do it," Tommy countered, trying not to smile as he worked on baiting Kimberly. His goal was to get her to agree to another competition, one that he was certain he'd win despite her talents as a musician simply because he'd practiced with the others for so long.

Narrowing her glare, Kimberly eyed him carefully. "Is that a challenge?"

"It is," Tommy answered, grinning as she began to nibble on the bait.

"And what are the stakes?" Kimberly questioned, winking because she already knew what Tommy's answer was going to be.

"Same as yesterday," he murmured, gently kissing the nape of her neck.

"You're on," said Kimberly, sealing their deal with a firm handshake as Tommy rose from his seat.

"I'll go sign us up."

For the briefest of moments Kimberly flinched, but she quickly recovered before Tommy took notice. "Oh, um, you don't have to do that," she replied, hoping he didn't question her. "I'm going to get up in a minute to use the bathroom, so I'll just sign myself up when I do."

Tommy furrowed his brow but did not argue, shrugging as he walked off to sign he and the guys up for the contest with ten dollars from each of them in his pants pocket to take care of the entry fee. It wasn't until he found the signup line that he realized how big of a contest this really was. There were at least fifteen people ahead of him waiting to register when he stepped in line, and close to that same amount behind him when he'd finally exited the line after putting their names on the list some fifteen minutes later.

As he walked back to their table following a stop at the bar, Tommy couldn't help but to feel some doubt over their ability to win the competition. Seeing as how there was going to be at least forty people singing, if not more, he was almost certain there'd be at least one person on the list who could outdo one guy with a great singing voice—Zack—and four whose voices were, well, _not_ so great.

"So when are you singing for us, hotshot?" Kimberly teased as Tommy returned to his seat beside her.

Tommy winked. "Last," he replied, smiling victoriously. "The lady doing signups was kind of cute and after a few minutes of flirting I got her to put me at the end of the list."

Kimberly wore a confused expression, not really sure why he'd be so happy about going last, but she chose not to question it. Instead she just smiled softly, curling up against Tommy's side when he put his arm around her.

For nearly two hours they all sat around, drinking and watching karaoke, Tommy doing a bit more of the former because if he was going to embarrass himself tonight he really had no desire to remember it in the morning. A few of the singers throughout the night were exceptional, but most of them were simply downright terrible.

Never in his twenty-eight years on Earth had Tommy wanted to end his own life more than when some drunk college kid tried to sing Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," a terrible four minutes that saw Tommy cringe each and every time the kid tried to hit one of Steven Tyler's wailing high notes.

By the time the competition started to reach it's end Kimberly had yet to sing and Tommy had developed the most perfect buzz imaginable, one that would allow his body to function properly while still being able to claim drunken stupidity for what they were about to do. While the young lady who'd just performed an old Christina Aguilera song fairly decently walked off the stage, the manager walked back on as the guys all shared an anticipatory look with one another.

"And now, let me introduce to you the final act in tonight's winner-take-all karaoke competition where the prize is over fifteen-hundred dollars in cold hard cash that Uncle Sam never has to know you won," said the manager, his voice sounding like he'd be better suited to host a Top 40 radio show on Sunday mornings. "Performing 'Tearin' Up My Heart' by NSYNC, they are: Tommy, Adam, Rocky, Zack, and Jason, the Angel Grove Boys! Give them a round of applause as they make their way to the stage, ladies and gentleman."

Without looking at their significant others the guys all stood up from the two tables and quietly converged, slowly approaching the stage as the crowd all clapped for them; sans the girls, of course, who were too busy staring at their men in disbelief.

"Man, why'd you get announced first?" hissed Jason.

Tommy winked at his old friend. "I already told you, bro," he answered with a smile. "I'm the lead singer of the band, bitch."

Jason rolled his eyes as one by one they started up the steps to the stage, crossing it in a single file line until Tommy stood next to the manager who started handing him microphones which Tommy then passed down the line.

"Do your thing, guys," said the manager, exiting the stage as the guys fell into a formation that looked something like a V.

Tommy stood front and center, Zack and Rocky to his left and right with Jason and Adam behind them. All of their heads were bowed as Zack raised his microphone to his lips. "Alright, Miss DJ," he murmured into the microphone, shooting a wink to the middle-aged woman sitting near the CD player. "Turn up that instrumental and drop the vocals. We're about to do it real sexual for all the ladies in here tonight," he continued in a smooth whisper, looking right at Angela as he said that.

Then a slow intro beat started and Tommy was singing into the microphone.

_It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you  
But when we are apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain  
With or without you_

As soon as the actual music hit the girls were laughing their asses off as the guys started in on an intricate dance number that Zack had shown them, but that Tommy had forced them to perfect in the two weeks leading up to the Halloween party where they had first performed the number.

_Hey-ah!_

Baby, I don't understand  
Just why we cant be lovers  
Things are getting out of hand  
Trying to much, but baby we can win  
Let it go…if you want me girl let me know  
I am down, on my knees  
I cant take it anymore

On their knees, the whole group picked up the chorus as they rose to their feet. Spinning around and sliding to his left, Tommy looked at Kimberly and saw her smiling back at him, shaking her head in a way that said she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

_  
It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you  
But when we are apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain  
With or without you_

Hooo-hoo-hoo-ooh, all right!

At this point Tommy stepped back and fell in line with Adam, Jason, and Rocky while Zack took the lead at the forefront of the stage, his eyes locked on Angela the whole time as he sang.

_  
Baby don't misunderstand  
What I'm trying to tell ya.  
In the corner of my mind  
Baby it feels like we're running out of time.  
Let it go…if you want me girl let me know  
I am down, on my knees  
I cant take it anymore, ohhhh!_

This time everyone except for Zack sang the chorus as they slid up and onto their feet from their grounded position on their knees. The first Black Ranger, however, remained on his knees for a few moments before throwing himself into a series of rather difficult break dancing moves that had the whole crowd cheering for him from the get-go.

It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you  
But when we are apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain  
With or without you

As the background lyrics cut out to just music Zack, who was in the midst of a head-spin, rejoined the group at this point by way of a reverse somersault that saw him push off with his hands and throw himself into a perfectly executed back flip that left him right behind Tommy. In the same position they'd started in sans the bowed heads, the group finished the song in unison as they continued to dance around the stage.

Just moments before the lyrics kicked back in the guys all turned their backs to the crowd, dancing all over until five shirts were thrown to the ground in unison revealing five well-muscled men in tight, form-fitting tank tops tucked into their jeans. If the ladies in the crowd weren't already swooning before they definitely were now, proven when the bar was filled with screams so high pitched they couldn't have belonged to a man.

_  
Tearin' up my heart and soul, when we're apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain with or without you_

Tearin' up my heart and soul when were apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain with or without you

Then it was time for the big show. Continuing to dance with their backs to the crowd, every female in the place went crazy when the guys literally ripped their tank tops in half, discarding them on the stage as they spun back around.

_  
It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you  
But when we are apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain  
With or without you_

_It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you  
But when we are apart I feel it too  
And no matter what I do I feel the pain  
With or without you_

And no matter what I do I feel the pain with or without you…

The song faded out with the guys all standing side by side at the top of the stage, each of them pointing to their respective significant other as their chests rose and fell rapidly to reveal their heavy breathing. For their part the girls were all smiles and the first to stand in applause for their men just moments before the entire crowd of two-hundred-plus roared their approval in the form of thunderous clapping, high pitched whistles, and extremely loud hollering.

"Ladies and gentleman, I think we have ourselves tonight's winner!" the manager announced, clapping his hands against his microphone as he walked back onto the stage while the guys retrieved their clothes.

The five men all looked at each other in excitement, slapping high fives with one another while the crowd continued to cheer them on. Unfortunately, each of them felt the color drain from their faces when they looked back to the girls and saw all of them but Trini standing up, staring back at them with unimpressed expressions. Not seconds later one of the bar's employees ran onto the stage, whispering something into his manager's ear that caused his eyes to go wide as he returned his attention to the crowd.

"Everyone, it seems I can't officially declare these guys the winners just yet. Although, let's be honest, who's going to top that?" he laughed, looking to the guys who smiled tightly, knowing exactly who it was that planned on stealing their show. "Alright then; it appears our last performance is another fivesome, as well. Calling themselves Better Than Boys, put your hands together for Aisha, Angela, Kimberly, Katherine, and Tanya!"

The crowd applauded politely as the guys walked off the stage, engaging in a defiant stare down with the girls as they passed by each other. The battle lines had clearly been drawn, evidenced when the guys all sat down at the same table, glaring at the stage with their arms folded across their chests.

Unfortunately, Tommy knew they were doomed as soon as he realized that the girls had changed part of their outfits as well. He hadn't seen it before because they'd all been sitting down, but they were wearing matching black sweats, the kind with buttons down the side that made them easy to tear away.

The next three and a half minutes were a blur, the guys looking deflated from the moment the first note of "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls hit. Sweatshirts were pulled off to reveal matching, black, spaghetti-strapped, midriff tank tops. Then came the pants which were torn away and tossed aside, showcasing matching black booty shorts, each pair with name of the woman wearing them written in cursive across the butt.

As the girls sang Tommy studied the crowd carefully. It was almost an even split of men and women which meant neither group was going to win based on sex appeal alone, which in turn meant that it was likely going to come down to their singing abilities. Considering the fact that Kimberly, Katherine, and Tanya were all great singers, Tommy knew that he and the guys didn't have a shot in Hell at winning the contest now.

The roar of applause that was given to the girls upon their completion of the song was easily double what the guys had received for their effort. When the manager announced Better Than Boys as the night's winner the guys all looked at one another with collective head shakes, knowing that they had been played from the start. Even so, despite the fact that they'd lost and absolutely hated that particular piece of knowledge, the guys all rose to their feet and applauded their significant others who were currently in the process of dividing their prize money amongst each other onstage.

When the girls left the stage a few moments later with their clothes in hand Tommy trained his focus on Kimberly, part of him still struggling to grasp what had just happened. It was like being the first to climb a new mountain only to have someone else follow right behind, push you off, and claim the title as first.

As she walked over to him Tommy folded his arms across his chest defiantly, but what little animosity he felt towards losing left his body as soon as she smiled at him. Even though a small part of him wanted to be, he couldn't be mad; not when he still had the most beautiful woman in the world as his consolation prize.

"You knew exactly what we were doing the whole time, didn't you?" Tommy questioned rhetorically, chuckling.

Through her smile, Kimberly nodded. "Of course," she answered, patting his chest. "I overheard the guys talking about getting you to compete in a karaoke contest with them, so I took the idea to the girls and we ran with it."

Tommy raised a curious eyebrow. "How'd you know I was going to agree to do it?"

Kimberly laughed as she shook her head. "Because I know you, Tommy. You got beat in _Guitar Hero_ yesterday, so your pride wasn't about to let you back down from an opportunity to redeem yourself. What I didn't know was how good you guys were going to be. Those girls at the sorority party must have been really impressed."

Tommy winced visibly. "You heard about that?"

Smiling, Kimberly nodded. "The best part was when they started talking about the blonde that went home with you that night," she replied, laughing when Tommy's face went white. "Don't worry, I'm not mad. Why would I be? It's not like we were together back then."

A deep, heavy sigh of relief escaped Tommy's lips. "So let me get this straight. You knew how badly I wanted to win tonight and still decided to compete against me? I mean, you had to have known that with you, Kat, and Tanya we didn't stand a chance."

"I know," Kimberly admitted, slightly embarrassed that she'd taken away Tommy's shot at victory without really having a good reason for doing so. "I honestly wasn't even thinking about trying to beat you guys when I brought it up, I just thought it'd be something fun for me and the girls to do. Now that it's over, though, I actually feel kind of bad about doing it."

"Well you shouldn't," Tommy murmured. Giving Kimberly a kiss, he smiled down at her as he gently rubbed the side of her arm. "Again, you beat me fair and square. I gotta be honest with you, though, I don't know how many more times my pride can take getting beaten by you like this," he added with a laugh, letting her know that he was only teasing.

Kimberly smiled as she opened her arms for a hug that Tommy was more than willing to give to her. "Thanks for not being mad at me," she whispered, looking up at him fondly.

"There's nothing to be mad about, Beautiful," Tommy replied, pecking a kiss to her forehead as he pulled her in close and looked over her shoulder to see Jason approaching them. "They knew the whole time, bro."

"I know; Kat just told me" said Jason, both chuckling and shaking his head as Kimberly turned around in Tommy's arms to face him. "Well played, Kim. We didn't expect a thing," he continued, Kimberly nodding silently. "Anyway, I think we're gonna head back to the house now if you guys are ready to leave."

Tommy and Kimberly shared a speechless look that simultaneously asked and answered Jason's question. "Yeah, we're ready," said Tommy, he and Kimberly following Jason hand in hand to the exit where the others were already waiting for them.

--


	4. Chapter 4

_**Title: The Merriest of Christmases**_

_**Summary: Every year, during the week before Christmas the Rangers all get together to celebrate the holidays with each other. For seven years this has been their tradition, and for just as long Tommy and Kimberly have had a little tradition of their own. Unfortunately, this year brings confliction to their tradition, making them both wonder if the path they're going on is the right one.**_

_**Timeline: Takes place the year after Dino Thunder**_

_**Rating: T (a mature version to this story is being posted as well)**_

_**Chapter: 4/5**_

_**Original Posting Date: December, 2008**_

_--_

_Tuesday, December 20, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_7:40 am_

With his arms wrapped around Kimberly's waist and his face buried in her hair, a smiling Tommy was currently in the midst of a sleep so deep that he could have made it through an air raid without being stirred from his slumber. This was more than fine with Kimberly who had been laying on her side, wide awake for just over half an hour.

She relished being in Tommy's arms, loved every waking moment that his body touched hers, but on the same token they had been spending so much time together that she'd barely had any time at all to think about everything that had happened over the last four days. For six years they'd had their secret, week long encounter and neither she nor Tommy had ever even given serious consideration to a real relationship.

But then he hadn't been able to come the previous year and she'd missed him so badly, something that she had not at all been prepared for. Deep down, she knew it was his absence that had awoken all the feelings she was currently trying to sort out in her head. Well, maybe not _just_ his absence.

If she was honest with herself, little by little she'd been growing more attached to Tommy ever since the first time that they had slept together eight years ago while on winter break their junior year of college, in the very same room she was currently sleeping in. She'd gone back to Florida that year and within three weeks she was casually dating someone she had met in one of her classes. But every year after that it had taken her just a little bit longer to move passed Tommy until finally she'd found herself not wanting to date at all.

That was right after she'd returned to Florida after last year's trip, when she had first started to wonder about her feelings for Tommy. At first it had been just physical attraction and perhaps a deep seeded desire stemming from what might have been; but now? She would be lying through her teeth if she said that she didn't want to be with Tommy beyond just this one week.

So then why couldn't she just come out and say it? Tommy had already pretty much told her that he wanted a relationship without actually saying it, so it wasn't like she would be taking some huge risk by telling him that she wanted the same thing. She knew he'd never hurt her, neither physically nor emotionally, so she didn't have that to be afraid of either. But if it wasn't those things that were preventing her from seizing that which her heart desired most, then what else could it possibly be?

Letting out a sigh, Kimberly slowly turned herself in Tommy's arms, careful not to stir him as she gazed upon his sleeping form. He seemed so peaceful, so utterly happy and content. More than a decade after the fact it still pained her to know that she'd taken away the thing that had always made him that way.

And that's when it hit her, like a vicious kick to the stomach coupled with the force of a Mack truck barreling into her while doing eighty miles per hour. Tears started to brim in her eyes almost instantly as she reached out and gently stroked the side of Tommy's face with the back of her hand.

"I can't hurt you again, Tommy," she murmured quietly, trying to bite back the tears which threatened to escape her eyes at any given moment. "I'd never be able to live with myself if I hurt you like I did before."

When Tommy suddenly started to stir she pulled back slightly, thinking she might have woken him, but he just smiled and readjusted his head on the pillow. Then a single tear escaped each of her eyes, slipping down her face with the realization that she'd never find another man who made her feel the way Tommy did. All he was doing was sleeping, but just watching him do this gave Kimberly an undeniable sense of happiness.

She loved being near him; loved holding him and kissing him. She loved the way he made her smile even when she didn't want to, the way he could always make her laugh, the way he whispered her name ever so sweetly while making love, and the way he treated her like she was the most important thing in the world to him. But more than any of that, she loved how she knew that he meant it with every fiber of his being when he told her that he loved her.

His love for her was unconditional, just as it always had been. He loved her despite her flaws, of which she had her fair share. He loved her when she was happy and loved her just as much when she was sad. She'd hurt him in one of the worst ways imaginable, but that had never stopped him from loving her, either. Even when she felt like she didn't deserve his love he continued to give it to her, regardless.

He was everything she had ever wanted in a man, yet at the same time she found herself incredibly fearful of pursuing an actual relationship with him. Had it been any other man but Tommy she wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest to enter a relationship, but Tommy wasn't any other man. They had history; almost all of it was good, of course, but it was that one bad event, that big glaring blemish in a twelve year friendship that had her second guessing what she was feeling inside.

She couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen to them if she somehow ended up hurting Tommy again. Surely, there friendship would end in an irreparable mess and that was something she absolutely dreaded thinking about. Tommy was a staple in her life now; they'd been exchanging emails and phone calls regularly for quite awhile, and he was always there to listen when she needed someone to talk to. If they tried again and failed because of her, something that she did wrong…could she really expect Tommy to be so forgiving the second time around?

It was a question she did not know the answer to, and that was something that had her scared beyond belief; so much so that she suddenly felt the need to put some space between herself and the man sleeping beside her. She needed to think, preferably with a clear head, and that was becoming harder and harder to do with each passing moment that she was forced to look at his smiling face.

Swallowing hard she gently started to pry her body from Tommy's embrace until she was finally able to slip out of bed entirely. She picked up her pajama bottoms and a tank top from the floor, quietly getting dressed before slipping out of their room without even the slightest bit of stirring from Tommy.

As soon as she stepped out into the hallway though, she froze, not really knowing where it was that she was heading. But then she looked towards the staircase leading to the third floor and suddenly knew exactly where she wanted to go.

Tiptoeing up the stairs, she made a u-turn around the staircase to enter one of two hallways on opposite ends of the third level. Cleverly designed to muffle outside noise in the bedrooms, all the common rooms were on one side of the floor while the bedrooms were on the other end. She entered the middle room and quietly closed the door behind her, smiling as she looked around at a plethora of musical instruments.

Along with two couches there were four guitars—two acoustic, an electric, and a bass—with four amplifiers, a full drum kit, an electric keyboard in one corner of the room and a piano in the other. Usually she, Adam, Zack, Tanya, and Katherine got together for a little jam session at least once during the trip, but they had yet to use the room this time around; at least not in a group setting, anyway.

Picking up one of the acoustic guitars, Kimberly carried it with her to the piano where a ceramic ashtray filled with guitar picks rested. After retrieving a pick and sliding the piano bench in front of one of the couches, she flopped down on said couch with the guitar in her lap and her feet on the bench. Taking a deep breath, she leaned back against the couch with her eyes closed and just started _playing._

From the first strum she was all smiles. Long before gymnastics had ever come into the picture, the guitar had been her first love. She reveled in its sound, loving the way it tickled her ears so perfectly sweet after having not played the instrument for nearly three months. It was a calming sound, one she desperately needed at a time when her thoughts and feelings were in such a tumultuous state.

For nearly an hour she picked at the guitar, playing around with different notes and chords while simultaneously penning lyrics in her head. Once she'd developed something that was roughly complete she started playing it from the top, completely oblivious to the fact that she had a one-man audience in the form of Tommy who was currently leaning against the wall, just inside the door as he watched and listened in pajama bottoms and a tee shirt.

_Got so scared it made me cry.  
The world took me for a ride.  
Got so scared it made me laugh.  
And tickled my pride._

Now I'm dancing in-between.  
Cause I've got nowhere to hide.  
Romancing the seams of my battered up inside.

Tommy knew that when Kimberly wrote a song there was always some level of personal influence involved, something she'd experienced that had inspired her to express it lyrically. As he listened to her sing he did so with narrowed eyes, forced to wonder if he was the cause of her sense of "in-between."__

Wonderful is the falling down of a broken dream  
Written on the cover of a New York magazine  
Stomp my hands, Jo baby I'll clap my feet.  
'Cause there is always another first man to beat

_  
Dancing in-between because I got nowhere hide  
Romancing the seams of my battered up inside.  
Oh, dancing in-between  
Dancing in-between  
_

_I'm the fool, got no scene  
Tangled up in this God damn in-between  
Made the break so baby pass the wine  
Just wasting all this precious time_

_  
Dancing in-between  
Dancing in-between_

Got so scared it made me cry

As the guitar slowly faded out Tommy didn't know whether to applaud or cry, and truthfully felt like doing a bit of both. He'd always loved her sing, and having already had one song written for him in the past, he was almost positive that he had influenced this new one, as well. Replaying the lyrics in his mind, it was clear to him now how much she was genuinely struggling with her own feelings and conflictions.

"That was beautiful," Tommy croaked, stifling a laugh when Kimberly jumped in her seat.

Visibly startled, Kimberly slowly turned around to face him. "Thanks," she murmured, smiling softly as Tommy started walking towards her. "I, uh, I didn't know I had an audience."

Tommy just smiled, not saying anything until he'd made his way around the couch and taken a seat next to Kimberly. "Can we talk?" he asked, the look on his face conveying to Kimberly that it was a serious matter he wanted to discuss.

"Of course," Kimberly answered, nodding as she leaned the guitar against the couch and turned to face Tommy with her legs crossed Indian-style. "What's on your mind?"

"You," said Tommy honestly, Kimberly smiling as she rubbed his knee. "Hearing you sing just now…it made me realize that maybe I've put you in a tight spot with all the talk about the future and everything. I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was putting unfair pressure on you, or anything else like that."

Kimberly sighed. "You don't have to apologize, Tommy; you didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I'm glad you want to have everything out in the open. I'm just not ready yet, but that isn't your fault," she replied with a reassuring smile, Tommy nodding silently. "One of these days I just know that I'm going to wake up and have everything make perfect sense. I wish I could tell you right now exactly what I wanted, but the truth is that I can't. I just…I'm afraid that if I take too long to figure things out you'll get frustrated and give up on me."

"Kim, I've waited over a decade to reach this point with you," said Tommy, rubbing the side of her leg with his socked foot. "After all that time, the only way I'm giving up is if you tell me no. Even then, you might need a restraining order and a change of address and phone number to keep me way."

Kimberly laughed, shaking her head at the playful grin on Tommy's face. "You know, there aren't many guys out there who would be this patient over a confused girl. It means the world to me that you're different"

"Well, first off; you're welcome," Tommy replied, his fingertips running up and down the sides of Kimberly's legs. "Secondly, though; you've got it all wrong. It's not that guys are impatient, it's just that there's a severe lack of girls worth waiting for. You, my dear, are one of the few exceptions to that rule."

Rolling her eyes, Kimberly smiled. "How come every time someone tries to compliment you, you take it and find a way to flip it back on them? If I said that you looked handsome you would tell me that I was the most beautiful girl in the world, even if you were in a suit and tie and I was in pajamas with no makeup on."

Tommy shrugged. "You mean like now?" he questioned, sharing a laugh with Kimberly who nodded her head when she remembered that she was indeed wearing pajamas without any makeup on. Smiling, he took her hand, raised it to his lips and kissed it, his eyes remaining locked on Kimberly the entire time. "The thing you have to realize is that I'm not in love with just part of Kim, I'm in love with all of her. It doesn't matter to me if you're wearing a cocktail dress and heels or jeans and a baseball hat. Either way, I'm still going to love you the same."

Kimberly felt a new wave of tears brimming in her eyes at the point. He was only confirming what she already knew, that he loved her unconditionally, but actually hearing him say it aloud had an effect on her that she was not at all ready for. When Tommy reached out and gently wiped at her face she forced herself to smile through her tears.

"Someone must really be looking out for me, 'cause I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world right now," Kimberly admitted in a quiet murmur. "Ahh! God, I'm such a crybaby sometimes, I swear!"

Tommy chuckled softly when Kimberly brushed her tears away in one long, aggressive rub with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. "Everyone cries, Kim," he replied, winking as he continued, "Even fearless White Rangers do it every once in a while."

Kimberly laughed. "You mean fearless Green, White, Red, and Black Rangers, right?" she retorted, Tommy joining her laughter as he nodded. "You know, I could barely believe it when you told me you were giving up racing to pursue your doctorate. And then when you told me you'd found a way to create new Ranger powers and that you were active again, I could barely believe that either. It's like, no matter what any of us are doing in life we can always count on you to keep us surprised."

"Speaking of surprises," said Tommy, smiling at what she'd said even though he wasn't entirely sure if it had been a compliment or not. "I was thinking maybe you and I could go out and do something by ourselves tonight. Lady's choice, of course."

Kimberly smiled. "Is that your way of asking me out on a proper date?"

Laughing, Tommy shrugged and nodded helplessly. "Hey, but at least it didn't take three months and multiple conversations with Jason and Zack to convince me to do it this time around. That's gotta count for something, right?"

He looked at her with such a hopeful expression on his face that she doubted she could have said no to him even if she had wanted to. "Well that depends, I guess, 'cause the only way I'm saying yes is if you agree to a condition, first."

Tommy furrowed his brow. "I'm listening," he replied, eyeing Kimberly carefully.

"No lady's choice. I was in control the last two nights," Kimberly murmured with seductive crypticness. "Tonight, I'm just following your lead."

"Deal," said Tommy, leaning in for a kiss only to be surprised when Kimberly pushed him back and shook her head.

"I doubt you want to kiss me considering the fact that I haven't brushed my teeth this morning, yet," Kimberly told him with a smile.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I've dealt with some pretty bad morning breath," he countered, kissing her just the same. When he pulled back, though, he looked at Kimberly like it had been the most awful thing ever. "Oh, God, you're right; that is funky," he laughed teasingly. "It's like something died in there."

Kimberly sneered at Tommy as she reached behind her back, grabbed a pillow and then blasted him in the face with it. "You're such a jerk," she muttered, Tommy laughing the whole time as she crawled across the couch in search of his embrace.

She started touching him seductively, her fingertips dancing along his chest and arms as she slowly slithered her way up his body until their faces were mere inches apart. Just when Tommy thought she was going to move in for a kiss she opened her mouth and blew a steady stream of terribly strong morning breath right into his face, causing him to wince visibly as she laughed in delight at his expense.

"Serves you right," she teased when Tommy faked like he was going to vomit. "Maybe that'll teach you to listen next time."

Shaking his head, Tommy laughed. "Alright, that does it!" he replied, looking around the room as he rose to his feet. "Where's Detective Scott so I can file charges against you for assault with a deadly weapon?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes as she stood up. "You're such a goofball sometimes," she chuckled, wrapping her arms around Tommy's waist.

"Says the girl who just blew morning breath in my face," Tommy countered, smiling as he held her close to his chest.

"If it ever makes it to court I'll just turn on the waterworks and plead temporary insanity," Kimberly murmured.

Resting his chin atop her head, Tommy laughed. "_Temporary_ insanity?" he questioned, winking when Kimberly pulled back and glared at him. "Let's be real here, Kim; there's nothing temporary about it."

"Hi Pot, it's nice to meet you. My name is Kettle," Kimberly replied with a laugh. "I can't believe that the man who has raced stock cars professionally, created dinosaur foot soldiers and Zords, gone to the Moon, and served as a Power Ranger and leader on four different teams is calling _me_ insane. Ahh, the sweet, sweet irony."

"_Au_ _contraire_ _mon_ _fraire_," said Tommy, shaking his head. "Those things don't make me insane, they just make me an adrenaline junkie with crazy French skills and an affinity for getting into unnecessary trouble."

Kimberly laughed. "One phrase and you've got crazy French skills?" she asked. "You're gonna have to do better than something eighty percent of America knows if you want to impress me."

Tommy smiled. "I thought I didn't have to impress you," he replied defiantly, waiting until Kimberly opened her mouth to speak before continuing over the top of her. "_Vous êtes beau. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?_"

"Telling me that I was beautiful was a good start, but asking me to sleep with you before we've even had our first date?" questioned Kimberly, shaking her head. "Just what kind of girl do you think I am, Tommy?"

Tommy pecked a quick kiss to Kimberly's forehead and then lifted her off her feet and onto his hips, her arms encircling his neck with her legs wrapped around his waist. "The kind of girl who likes when I do this," he answered, dipping her back as he buried and rubbed his face in the soft pillows of her breasts.

The rumbling noise that filled the room when he blew a raspberry against her skin moments later had the former Pink Ranger laughing heartily. "Oh, gross, Tommy!" said Kimberly, playfully slapping the back of his head. Her joking disgust, however, quickly turned to a pleasured moan when Tommy started kissing his way around her chest. "Mmm…that feels nice."

"I bet it does," Tommy murmured, setting her down and backing away with a smile as Kimberly stared at him in disappointed confusion. "It's just too bad I don't go the distance with stinky-breathed short chicks."

Before Kimberly could reply Tommy was running out of the room in laughter so she settled for throwing a pillow that hit him in the back before giving chase. Jason was in the midst of stumbling out of his bedroom when he saw Tommy blow passed him, rushing down the stairs with Kimberly hot on his heels.

"I'm gonna kill him, Jase," said Kimberly as she hit the steps. "They're not gonna be able to identify the body at the morgue when I get done with you, Tommy!"

"Don't forget who the black belt is, Kim!" Tommy shouted back, turning into the second floor hallway en route to their bedroom.

"Belt or no belt, I'm kicking your ass!" Kimberly shouted, skidding to a stop when the bedroom door slammed in her face. Irritated, she reached for the handle only to find that the door was locked which turned her irritation to anger, expressed by beating her fist against the wooden barrier. "Tommy Oliver, you let me in right now! You have until the count of five before I kick this door in and beat you with it!"

Then she heard the lock click.

"Goddamn right," she muttered, pushing the door open. Entering the room she found Tommy standing in front of the bed, shirtless and with a bottle of mouthwash in his hand.

"The cure for your ailment, my dear," said Tommy, smiling as he extended the bottle to her.

Kimberly snatched the bottle out of his hand and cocked it behind her head as if she was going to hit him. Tommy, however, stood stoic and fearless with his arms folded across his chest, silently daring her to do it while knowing that she wouldn't. With an exasperated groan, Kimberly twisted the top off the bottle and took a drink to Tommy's chagrin, swishing the liquid and rolling her eyes at him as she headed for the bathroom.

"I should so kick your ass for the stinky-breathed short chick comment," Kimberly muttered upon emerging from the bathroom a minute or so later, Tommy laughing from where he sat on the edge of the bed as she walked towards her. "But what does it say about me if all I want to do is screw your brains out?"

Tommy smiled up at her, wrapping his arms around her waist as she stood between his legs. "It says that you're a perfectly normal adult with a healthy sexual appetite. And it also says that great minds think alike," he murmured, pulling her down with him as he fell back on the bed and kissed her.

--

_Tuesday, December 20, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_6:50 pm_

Nearly nine hours later, Tommy almost felt awkward as he stood with Jason in the third-story bathroom that the original leader of the Power Team shared with Katherine. She'd been his first physically intimate relationship, and while he was grateful that hadn't caused a divide between himself and his best friend, just being around all her personal things made him feel weird inside.

Unfortunately, Kimberly had banned him from their bedroom almost as soon as she had returned two hours prior from a four hour excursion with Aisha to find a new outfit for her to wear on her date this evening. She'd barely even given him time to get his own clothes for the date before she had kicked him out, forcing him to spend the remaining two hours leading up to the date elsewhere.

He'd played video games with Adam and Rocky, shot pool with Zack, and helped Katherine with a crossword puzzle. It had been a painfully long two hours, but now that the time for their date was almost here Tommy found himself feeling much the same way as he had prior to their first date nearly fifteen years ago. He was incredibly nervous, butterflies in his stomach as he cinched up his white necktie, the only part of his ensemble that wasn't solid black.

"You look like you're gonna blow chunks, bro," said Jason, arms folded across his chest as he and Tommy looked at each other via the mirror.

Gripping the sink, the former White Ranger checked his reflection and laughed. "Man, it's like I'm fifteen years old all over again. Honestly, Jase, you know that I've dated my fair share post-Kim, but no one except her has ever been able to make me feel this nervous before a date."

Jason smiled. "I know the feeling well, bro," he replied, clasping his friend on the shoulder. "That's exactly how I felt before my first date with Kat. It was three years ago, but I can still remember it like it had happened yesterday. I was such a blubbering, nervous wreck that I couldn't believe it when she agreed to see me again. It was like…here was this girl that I'd been eyeing for years and the fact that I was actually getting my shot was a little too surreal for me to understand at the time, I guess."

Sizing himself up in the mirror, Tommy checked his tie and shook his head. The knot wasn't big enough. "Son of a bitch," he grumbled, hurriedly fumbling with the knot. "But yeah, I know what you're saying. I feel like I've been chasing her my whole life and now's my time to really reach out and catch her, you know?"

Watching Tommy hastily retie the knot, Jason nodded. "She's going to come around eventually, bro," he murmured, Tommy sighing as he completed the knot to his liking. "If you really think about it, it's kind of fitting that it happened this way."

Tommy raised a curious eyebrow at that. "What are you talking about, man?"

Jason laughed. "Well, you guys were the original couple and everything. Everyone else in the group got together after you two had already broken up, and now you guys are just getting started again once the rest of us are all either married or engaged. You and Kim found love first, but in the end you were the last to find your endgame."

Rolling his eyes, Tommy chuckled. "First off, thank you for telling me it's _fitting_ that I had to go without her for a decade while the rest of you were happy. Is that like my punishment or something? Sorry, Tommy, you were the first one to get a girlfriend so now you have to live miserably without her for ten years while all your friends are falling in love?"

"Man, I didn't mean—" Jason started.

Tommy shook his head. "I know you didn't," he interjected, cutting his friend off. "Secondly, and more importantly, what in the world makes you think that Kim is my endgame?"

Smiling, Jason shrugged. "I don't know, man. I don't think you really notice the way she looks at you when we're all together. It's like, me or Rocky or Tanya could be talking and Kim would still listen, but at the same time you can tell that you're the most important thing on her mind. And the way you look at her, bro? You might as well walk around with 'I © Kimberly Hart' written on your forehead."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever, Jase," he laughed, elbowing his friend in the side playfully. But as he did so, his sleeve rose up his wrist and he caught sight of his watch. "Crap man, it's 6:58, Kim said to be downstairs at seven o'clock sharp, and I still have to get her corsage out of the fridge. I gotta book it."

Before Jason could reply Tommy was off, doing a full search of his person to ensure he had everything he needed as he rushed out of the room, grabbing his suit jacket from the bed on his way out. He ran right passed their bedroom where he was certain he'd seen the door start to creep open, pulling on his jacket and jumping from the third step to the floor of the first level.

Pumping his legs as fast as they would go he through the living room en route to the kitchen, passing Adam, Rocky, Aisha, and Tanya. "Hi guys," he muttered with a wave. In the kitchen, he threw the refrigerator door open and found the plastic box on the bottom shelf right where he had left it three hours earlier. Running back through the living room, he waved to his friends once more. "Bye guys."

Skidding to a stop in front of the stairs, he looked at his watch just as the hour hand struck seven o'clock.

"Whew, made it," he breathed, wiping his brow on the back of his hand as he turned and looked towards the top of the staircase where Kimberly would be making her grand entrance at any given moment.

From the second she appeared less than five later he found himself staring, struggling to keep his mouth from hanging open as she slowly started down the stairs towards him. Her hair was done up in a stylish bun, and she wore a strapless black number that went to her ankles with slits up each side to mid-thigh and a black shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She had on matching high heels, her makeup had been done with the utmost care and precision—courtesy of Aisha—and what little accessories she wore and carried he recognized almost immediately.

The diamond earrings were an inheritance from her great-grandmother, an accessory she'd long ago told Tommy that she always kept with her but only wore for extremely special occasions. And the purse she carried was one that he was more than familiar with. It had belonged to Kimberly's mother and she'd taken it on her first date with Kimberly's father. Caroline Hart had allowed her daughter to take it on a date with Tommy only to have it seized by Lord Zedd and transformed into the Pursehead monster. It made him smile and his heart warm to know that she considered their date worthy of wearing the earrings.

"You look…_amazing_, Beautiful," Tommy whispered with a bright smile, reaching out for her hand when she reached the bottom step.

"Thanks," Kimberly murmured, blushing slightly as she took his offered hand and stepped down in front of him. "You're looking pretty spiffy yourself tonight as well, Handsome."

For a few silent moments Tommy just stared at her with a smile on his face that seemed content on being a permanent fixture. Then he realized what he was doing and quickly shook his head clear. "Here," he replied, popping open the lid on the plastic box to show her the corsage; half a dozen small white roses accentuated with baby's breath in white and pink.

Kimberly smiled as he removed the corsage from the box and carefully slipped it onto her wrist. "Thank you, Tommy. It's beautiful," she said softly, holding it to her face for closer inspection. Turning to Tommy, she couldn't help but laugh with a shake of her head. "God, I feel like we're going to prom or something."

"Well, it's more than ten years overdue and there's no limousine, but I guess you could consider this our prom seeing as how we never got to have one together," said Tommy with a smile and a subtle wink. "Are you ready to go?" he continued, offering Kimberly his arm.

"Absolutely," Kimberly answered, smiling as she wrapped her arm around his.

"Then off we go," Tommy replied, opening the front door for her. No sooner had they stepped outside, though, then Kimberly immediately started to shiver. Stopping as soon as he felt her shaking, he removed his jacket with a smile and wrapped her in its warmth. "How's that?"

"Much better," said Kimberly, her smile turning to a slight frown as they started down the driveway towards Tommy's SUV. "I just hate having to cover up when I spent all this time making myself look extra-special for you."

Opening the passenger side door for Kimberly, Tommy chuckled. "Don't worry, Beautiful; it's not like you have to wear it for the entire night," he replied as Kimberly climbed into her seat with a murmured thank you. "Just wear it outside. When we're inside you can take it off."

Kimberly nodded her head with a smile, her eyes never wavering from Tommy as he closed the door and quickly walked around to the driver's side of the vehicle, opening the door and climbing in next to her. "So where are you taking me, tonight?" she asked, the slightest hint of a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, first we're going to have dinner at a place not too far from here called Christy Hills," Tommy answered as he slowly started to back the car down the driveway. "Billy looked it up for me earlier, and apparently the _San Francisco Chronicle_ has named it the most romantic restaurant in California a couple different times."

"That sounds nice," Kimberly supplied with a smile, reaching out for Tommy's free hand as they headed down the mountain on a series of winding streets that connected with one of the town's main roads at the base.

Tommy nodded. "It should be," he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. "And after that, I was thinking that we could head over to this little coffee shop down in Old Town. Billy looked that one up for me, too. It has the best desserts in town and a great, live, jazz band to boot."

Kimberly looked at Tommy with an expression that clearly stated how overly impressed she was. "Wow, Tommy, you really put a lot of thought into this; above and beyond anything I could have expected."

Smiling, Tommy pecked a tender kiss to the top of her hand. "There's more to it than that, but the rest is going to have to be a surprise for now."

The vibrant smile on Kimberly's face as she nodded her understanding was one that was perfectly content with having to wait to be surprised. Normally she would try to needle him into telling her what he was planning on doing, but tonight she had no desire to do that. Tonight she was just going to go with the flow, wherever that happened to lead her.

--

_Four and a half hours later…_

The grin spread across Kimberly's face as she and Tommy quietly crept back into the house was one of pure and utter delight. The night that had started off so wonderfully had nearly ended as soon as she'd seen the menu at Christy Hills, Kimberly none too happy with the idea of Tommy spending nearly seventy dollars just for her to have dinner. He'd talked her down, though, and from there the night went about as perfectly as it could have gone if it had been scripted that way.

They'd enjoyed quiet, carefree conversation, sitting close and stealing the occasional kiss over dinner and a bottle of wine that Tommy had declined to hear the price of. Dessert at the coffee shop had held more of the same, only mixed in with nearly two hours of dancing to one of the best live jazz bands either had ever heard.

Everything Billy's research had provided had been exactly as described. Christy Hills was nothing short of elegant, overlooking Lake Tahoe and screaming high class in a way that Tommy could have never enjoyed on a regular basis despite the fact that he was wealthier than everyone else in the entire restaurant. The strawberry cheesecake and double fudge pie at the coffee shop had been divine, and the band had provided more than enough music to keep them dancing until neither could stand any longer. After all of that, though, there was still one more surprise; one very important detail to their evening together that Tommy had yet to inform Kimberly of.

The house was surprisingly dark as they entered, odd considering that most nights in the house lasted well into the wee hours of morning. Then again, Tommy reasoned silently, Jason's Suburban hadn't been in the driveway when they'd pulled in. They'd probably all gone off to do something on their own.

"I don't think anyone's home," said Tommy, flipping on a few lights as he did a quick look around of the first floor before returning to where Kimberly was standing in the foyer. "Yeah, there's no one down here."

Kimberly shrugged. "That doesn't surprise me. It's not like they were going to put their lives on hold and stay home doing nothing just because we weren't here with them."

"Very true," Tommy replied with a laugh, running his hand through his hair. "Alright, so like I said before, I have a surprise for you tonight."

Smiling, Kimberly shook her head. "Oh, thank God," she murmured. "For a second there I thought you'd gone old school on me and forgotten all about it."

Tommy chuckled. "Nope, I definitely didn't forget," he told her, winking subtly. "But it's still not ready yet. I need you to go upstairs and wait in the game room while I get everything taken care of, okay?"

Kimberly nodded and allowed Tommy to lead her upstairs, leaving her with a kiss as he closed the door behind her. Flopping down on one of the couches, she smoothed out her dress and let out a sigh. She had been waiting a long time—almost five hours—to find out what Tommy's big surprise was, her anticipation growing throughout the night until she'd started to feel like she might burst at any possible moment. Now, though, she knew that it was only a matter of minutes until the surprise was revealed to her, a moment she waited for with an anxious smile.

It was nearly ten minutes later when she heard her cell phone vibrating insider her purse resting beside her on the couch. Lightning fast, she retrieved the device from her bag and flipped it open to find a new text message from Tommy.

"_Come out,"_ it read simply.

Smiling the entire time, Kimberly walked to the door and found herself shaking when she reached out and grasped the handle. Now that the moment was finally here, she was almost nervous to actually see what it was. Still, her desire to be surprised severely outweighed her feelings of nervousness.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and saw nothing but empty hallway. But then she lowered her eyes to the ground and found a single petal from a red rose lying at the foot of the door. A few inches beyond that was another, and another, and another until she realized the petals formed a path she needed to follow.

Not surprisingly, the path led right to their bedroom door which she quietly pushed open before slipping inside. In the room, however, the path of petals forked; one lead to the bed where a bouquet of white roses rested and the other went to the bathroom, the faint sound of music coming from beyond the door.

Smiling brightly, she shook her head and started for the bed. She picked up the flowers and brought them to her nose, inhaling deeply their sweet scent as she noticed a simple white card tied around the plastic wrap.

"_For my Beautiful,"_ it read.

Setting the flowers back down on the bed, she turned for the bathroom and stepped inside with nervous anticipation. Her hands immediately flew to her mouth, a shocked gasp escaping her lips when she saw what Tommy had done.

Several lit, deliciously scented candles she couldn't quite identify surrounded the room, resting everywhere from the sink counter to the ledge of the bath tub that had been drawn with bubbles an array of rose petals shaped like a heart in the water. Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" played from Tommy's iPod which he'd done his best—albeit unsuccessfully—to tuck out of sight in the far corner of the room. Completing it all was a tray that sat atop the sink counter holding two empty champagne flutes and a sparkling white plate with a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries, a bucket of ice right next to it with a bottle of Cristal champagne inside.

But for as wonderful as this all was, so much so that she felt tears brimming in her eyes, there was still something missing; Tommy. No sooner had his name entered her mind then she felt a strong pair of hands fall softly on her shoulders, causing her to jump slightly.

"How do you like it?" Tommy whispered in his ear, his shirt now untucked and his tie discarded.

Grinning from ear to ear, Kimberly slowly turned around to face him. "It's…incredible, Tommy. I honestly don't know what to say."

Tommy smiled. "You don't have to say anything," he replied, turning her back around as his hands went to the zipper of her dress. "Let's get you out of this and into the tub while the water is still hot."

Kimberly just nodded, allowing Tommy to slowly pull the dress away as she kicked off her heels until she stood there in nothing but a lacey black thong. "Mmm…very sexy," he admired from behind, Kimberly smiling over her shoulder at him. Alas, the thong was quick to go as well, Tommy taking care of this while placing tender kisses all over her naked back.

"I can't believe that you did all this, Tommy," Kimberly whispered as he quietly led her over towards the bathtub. "I have honestly never had a man do anything for me in my entire life that even comes close to this."

"You only deserve the best, Kim," Tommy replied, helping her into the tub with a kiss. The quiet moan that escaped her lips as she slid down into the water had Tommy smiling like a love struck teenager as he turned around to retrieve the glasses and bottle of champagne. "How's the water?" he asked, popping the cork on the bottle.

"It's perfect," Kimberly purred, closing her eyes as she laid her head against the wall. "You should join me."

Filling the glasses with champagne, Tommy smiled to himself. "Maybe later," he said softly, moving the glasses down the counter as close to the tub as they could go. Then he slid the plate of strawberries down next to their drinks, picked the glasses back up, and carried them to the ledge of the tub where he sat and held the glass out for her. "Here you go, Beautiful."

Kimberly's eyes fluttered open as she reached out and took the glass with a smile. "Thanks," she murmured, Tommy holding his own glass just inches away from hers. "So what are we toasting to?"

"Us," Tommy answered, his grin never wavering. "Our success, our health, our happiness, and being able to spend a few extra days with each other."

"I'll toast to that," said Kimberly, clinking glasses with Tommy. As she took a sip of champagne she looked around the room at everything he was doing for her while silently remembering everything else he'd already done throughout the night. "I still can't get over this, Tommy. This whole night…dinner and the coffee shop would have been more than enough, but this? I just don't feel like 'thank you' is good enough."

Tommy merely smiled, thrilled that she was enjoying the evening so much, but at the same time not really knowing what to say to that. So instead, he leaned towards the sink counter and grabbed the plate of strawberries, setting them on the floor next to him. "Here, try this," he murmured, offering Kimberly a berry dipped in milk chocolate with a white chocolate swirl.

She graciously allowed Tommy to feed her, taking a careful bite of the sweet concoction to ensure no debris found its way into the water. "Mmm, that's delicious," Kimberly replied. "You should try it."

As Tommy raised the berry to his lips, he found himself more and more wanting to be closer to her than this. He'd planned on dragging this out as long as possible, feeding her strawberries and refreshing the water as needed. Now, though, he didn't know how much more dragging he was going to be able to accomplish before he finally gave in to his desires.

"Why don't we run a little more hot water and then you can get in with me," Kimberly continued, almost as if she'd been reading his mind.

"You know," said Tommy, smiling as he rose to his feet and started unbuttoning his shirt, "I think I'm going to."

While Tommy disrobed Kimberly reached out for the handle that controlled the faucet. The water that came down was cold at first, causing her to flinch slightly, but it warmed up rather quickly. By the time it was hot, Tommy was in the midst of climbing into the tub next to Kimberly, sliding down the wall and into the warm bubbly water with his champagne glass in hand. Almost instantly, he started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Kimberly with a confused expression.

"Nothing," Tommy chuckled, shaking his head. "I just haven't taken a bubble bath since I was like seven or eight, that's all."

Kimberly smiled as Tommy's arm found its way around her shoulder, their toes waging war with one another underwater. "Thank you, Tommy," she whispered, snuggling up close to him. "For everything. I can't say that enough. I mean this from the bottom of my heart; this has been one of the most amazing nights of my entire life."

Tommy was all smiles as he placed a gentle kiss to the side of her head. "You're welcome; and I'm glad you're enjoying yourself so much," he replied, his fingertips dancing along the side of her arm. "But I have to be honest with you. When I planned this all out, I did it with just a _little_ bit of selfish intentions in mind."

"What do you mean?" asked Kimberly, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Well," said Tommy, shaking his head slightly as he finished off his glass of champagne and set it on the floor. "Everything from the time we got home has been something I've always wanted to do for someone. I guess you could call it a fantasy that I never lived out, mostly because I never had anyone I cared enough about to do it for. But in the way I imagined it, the night doesn't end until I do one last thing."

Kimberly furrowed her brow. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

Tommy just looked at her and smiled, slowly kissing his way around her neck as he repositioned his body in front of her. Kimberly moaned against his ear, Tommy dragging his lips to hers for a fiery, passionate kiss. While their lips clashed he gently pried the half-full champagne glass away from her hand, setting it on the floor next to his empty one.

"Trust me when I say that this," Tommy breathed over her lips, kissing her softly, "is something I have always wanted to do. Just lay back and enjoy yourself, Beautiful."

Kimberly did as instructed and leaned her back against the tub, watching Tommy slowly descend under the bubbles. At first she wasn't sure what he was doing, but the way her body suddenly seized and the gasp that escaped her lips moments later were clear indication that Tommy had found what he was looking for. Her eyes fluttered shut almost instantly, a bright smile crossing her face as she bit down hard on her lip.

For nearly three minutes Tommy's lips and tongue mixed with the sensation of being underwater did things to her body the likes of which she'd never experienced before. Only when the need for air became too much did Tommy emerge from beneath the water, causing Kimberly to smile at the mound of bubbles gathered atop her head.

"You're not done yet, are you Tommy?" she asked softly, craving so much more.

Tommy chuckled as he shook his head slowly, his face covered in bubbly water. "No way," he breathed, wiping the foamy liquid away from his eyes and mouth. "We're just getting started here, Beautiful."

And then he was gone once again, Kimberly smiling down at him as she watched the top of his head descend into the bubbles.

--

_Wednesday, December 21, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_2:00 pm_

Tommy was all laughs as he entered the house with a shopping bag in hand and the guys close behind, joking about how they'd left the all-you-can-eat buffet table at a nearby pizzeria empty for nearly fifteen minutes while the staff had scrambled like madmen to catch up with the Rocky and Zack's ungodly ability to devour massive quantities of food in a short period of time without feeling a thing or gaining a pound.

"Thirteen slices in ten minutes," Billy muttered, shaking his head in the foyer as he looked at Rocky. "I've never seen anything like that before."

Chuckling, Rocky shrugged nonchalantly. "They were small slices. You need to hang around more often if you wanna see the good stuff, Billy-man," he joked, clasping his friend on the shoulder. "Ask Adam about the time we bet on the World Series a few years back."

When Billy turned to Adam, the former Black and Green Ranger rolled his eyes. "We bet lunch on the Giants and Angels back in 2002. I took the Giants, lost, and had to buy Rocky lunch. In hindsight, if I knew buying him lunch meant almost a hundred bucks at Taco Bell I wouldn't have taken the bet."

The other guys just laughed, not at all surprised to hear yet another story that simply proved further that Rocky could eat more than should have been humanly possible. It was then that Tommy decided to slip away, feeling a bit tired after trying and failing miserably to keep up with Rocky and Zack. He'd known better than to try, but of course his competitive spirit refused to back down from a challenge.

"Where are you going, bro?" asked Jason upon noticing that Tommy was halfway up the stairs.

"To lay down for awhile and try to prevent my stomach from exploding," Tommy replied, laughing with a shake of his head at the look of fake disgust on Jason's face as he continued on towards the bedroom. He frowned when he reached the door, finding it odd that it would be closed unless Kimberly was taking a nap so when he pushed it open he did so extremely quietly.

"It's okay, you can come in," Kimberly called out to him, smiling at Tommy from her position on the floor as he entered the room. "I'm just wrapping a couple presents."

"Then I take it there isn't anything down there for me, otherwise you wouldn't have let me in," Tommy teased, slowly sitting down next to her as he set his shopping bag behind him.

Laughing, Kimberly shook her head. "No, _yours_ is already wrapped and put away."

"Who's name did you draw for the gift exchange this year?" asked Tommy, his fingertips dancing along the small of her back as he reclined on his elbow.

"Rocky," said Kimberly.

Looking at the gift she was currently wrapping, Tommy furrowed his brow in confusion. "You got Rocky vanilla scented lotion and skin moisturizer?" he questioned with a laugh, resisting the urge to make a joke about exactly how Rocky would end up using the lotion.

Shaking her head, Kimberly chuckled. "No, this is for Trini. We just get each other something small every year," she answered, reaching into a nearby bag where she pulled out a packaged box set of DVD's and handed them to Tommy. "Those are for Rocky."

"_The Ultimate Kung Fu Collection,_ huh?" Tommy replied, eyeing the box before handing it back to Kimberly. "He'll love that."

Smiling, Kimberly nodded. "I thought so, too," she murmured, looking at Tommy somewhat expectantly. "When I'm done with these do you want to do our gifts for each other?"

"You don't want to wait until tomorrow like we usually do, or on Christmas morning at my parent's house?" asked Tommy, truthfully not really caring when they exchanged their gifts for one another. Either way he was ready—albeit, in true Tommy fashion, just barely.

Thinking about what she wanted to do, Kimberly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess we can wait if you want to. I just thought that it would be nice to do it when it was just the two of us."

Looking up at her, Tommy smiled as his hand slowly drifted into the small bag next to him. He pulled out a single wrapped package, no bigger than a DVD case and handed it to Kimberly. "Merry early Christmas, Beautiful."

"You want me to do it now?" she asked, taking the gift with the slightest bit of hesitation.

"Sure, go for it," said Tommy, grinning.

Kimberly nodded, Tommy watching her trembling fingers as she attempted to tear away the wrapping paper plastered with cartoon images of Santa Claus driving his sled of reindeer. Eventually she was able to get his present unwrapped, her hand going to her mouth when she saw what it was.

"Oh my God. Tommy…" she murmured, her voice trailing off as tears started to well in her eyes.

His gift was but a picture, held safely within a shiny black oak frame. It was the picture itself, though—or rather, two pictures compressed into one—that had Kimberly struggling not to cry. The two pictures were blended together seamlessly, one showing teenaged versions of she and Tommy in a restaurant on their first date, and the other having been taken in their booth by their waiter at Christy Hills the night before. In both pictures Tommy had his arm around her, each of them wearing bright smiles.

"Do you like it?" he asked, gently rubbing her back.

Turning to face him, Kimberly looked at Tommy and smiled through her tears as she nodded fiercely. "I love it, Tommy," she answered, throwing her arms around him tightly. "How did you get this done between last night and today, though?"

"Billy," Tommy answered with a laugh. "Originally it was just going to be the old picture of us, but then I took it to him this morning with the new picture on my camera and asked him if he could somehow shrink the old one and combine the two. I'm not exactly sure how he did it, but he did."

"It's perfect, Tommy. Thank you," Kimberly replied, smiling as she gave him a grateful kiss.

The vibrant smile on Kimberly's face was so bright that Tommy simply couldn't help it but to beam on the inside a little bit as he nodded. "You're welcome," he murmured, stealing another kiss from her.

"Wait right here," said Kimberly, pushing herself onto her feet. She quickly crossed the bedroom to their closet, opening the door on her side and extracting two wrapped packages. One was similarly sized to the gift Tommy had given her, while the other was big and square; she carried them back over and sat down next to him, setting them in front of him with a smile. "Merry early Christmas, Tommy."

The former White Ranger grinned while he picked up the smaller of the two packages. "Great, now I have to buy you something else," he teased, kissing her cheek as his fingers tore at the wrapping paper.

Rolling her eyes, Kimberly laughed. "No you don't. What you did was just fine," she replied, shaking her head. "Besides, the small one is more of a joke than anything else."

Tommy just nodded as he finished tearing away the paper. "Oh jeez," he muttered with a laugh, staring at the slim DVD case he now held. The cover had a picture of him, shirtless and on his knees in the midst of singing karaoke at Turn 3 two nights prior. "Is this what I think it is?"

Kimberly just smiled. "Open it," she replied.

Chuckling, Tommy shook his head as he popped the case open to find a burned DVD on one side and a small handwritten note on the other. "'To my lead singer,'" he read aloud with a smile. "'I'd throw my panties on stage for you any day. Always, Kim.' Aww, how sweet."

"Billy filmed the whole thing without you guys even knowing it," Kimberly explained, sharing a laugh with Tommy. "Now you can relive that one amazingly embarrassing moment anytime you want to for the rest of your life. Or at least until technology sends DVD's the way of the Atari and VHS tape, that is."

"Thanks," said Tommy, the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice as he kissed her. "Should I open the other one now?"

Kimberly just smiled and nodded, watching Tommy as he removed the paper from a coffee table book with the words "The Complete History of the Martial Arts" written at the top and a picture on the cover of two men battling in a room surrounded by weaponry traditional to the arts Tommy loved so much.

"Oh wow, Kim; this is awesome! Thanks!" Tommy exclaimed, grinning as he started to slowly flip through the pages.

"Really?" Kimberly questioned somewhat hesitantly. "I honestly wasn't sure what to get for you. It's pretty much impossible to shop for the guy who could have everything and wants nothing."

"That's not true. I've never stopped wanting you," Tommy replied, both of them smiling as they shared a kiss. "Besides, this is perfect. You did a great job, Beautiful."

Kimberly beamed. "You like it then?"

Tommy shook his head. "No," he answered seriously, leading her on for just the briefest of moments before he turned to her and smiled. "I love it."

--


	5. Chapter 5

_**Title: The Merriest of Christmases**_

_**Summary: Every year, during the week before Christmas the Rangers all get together to celebrate the holidays with each other. For seven years this has been their tradition, and for just as long Tommy and Kimberly have had a little tradition of their own. Unfortunately, this year brings confliction to their tradition, making them both wonder if the path they're going on is the right one.**_

_**A/N 1: Subtle nod to one of my other stories in the first scene. Brownie points if you can catch it.**_

_**A/N 2: This is probably going to be the last time you guys hear from me for a long while. Writing loses its pleasure when you're doing it for a bunch of people where the majority don't even care enough to leave some basic feedback. Essentially I'm tired of busting my ass to write for you guys and getting 5 or 6 reviews per chapter. The amount of work I put in just isn't worth the end result.**_

_**Timeline: Takes place the year after Dino Thunder**_

_**Rating: T (a mature version to this story is being posted as well)**_

_**Chapter: 5/5**_

_**Original Posting Date: December 25, 2008**_

_--_

_Thursday, December 22, 2005_

_Tahoe City, CA_

_5:45 pm_

All throughout the first floor living room the group was spread out watching television; everyone except for Rocky, that is. The former Red and Blue Ranger presently had a whirlwind of organized chaos going on in the kitchen as he went about preparing their final dinner together on the trip. The other members of the group had all offered to help him cook the meal, only to have Rocky decline like he had done each and every year for the last seven, and now eight. Cooking for his friends and family, seeing their smiles when they bit into a particularly tasty dish; more than even the martial arts, that was Rocky's greatest pleasure.

Sharing one of the couches with Kimberly, Katherine and Jason, Tommy kept his arm around Kimberly's shoulders and his eyes on the flat screen television where the Cleveland Cavaliers were currently running the floor in a fast break against the Chicago Bulls. His mind, though? Well, that was somewhere else entirely.

It was almost unfathomable for him to think that their trip would actually be ending come tomorrow morning, everyone going back to their regular lives spread out across the country. Even in his head it sounded somewhat clichéd, but it really did seem like it had only just been yesterday when Kimberly had startled him from his almost-nap in his car in front of the Reno/Tahoe Airport.

So much had happened in those seven days, things he never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined himself doing: snowboarding while stripping, singing karaoke with the guys, falling in love with the same girl all over again. He smiled subtly when he thought of how far he and Kimberly had come over the last week, going from a casual and secret fling with no strings attached to publicly teetering on the edge of so much more. Loving her the way that he did, he could only hope that she decided the future she wanted included him for more than just a week each year.

When a few of his friends started to roar, Tommy was snapped from his thoughts and rapidly blinked his mind clear just in time to see Cavalier's forward LeBron James running up the court while a highlight of the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree dunk he had just executed started to play on the screen.

"Dude, did you see that?" asked Jason, reaching behind Katherine and Kimberly to smack Tommy on the shoulder.

"Huh?" asked Tommy, looking across the couch to Jason. "Oh, the dunk? Yeah, man. Crazy."

Looking at his friend, Jason just shook his head and chuckled, taking a drink from his Heineken bottle. For as long as they'd known each other he barely even needed to see the look on Tommy's face to know exactly what the former White Ranger was thinking about; the petite brunette on his left.

For her part Kimberly wasn't ignorant of the way Tommy had been staring intently at the television, wearing a look that was far too contemplative for a sporting event, especially one that he cared very little about. She, too, knew what he was thinking, but it wasn't like they could just have the conversation now and she wasn't about to ditch their friends on their final night together. Plus, deep down she still didn't feel like that conversation was one that she was ready to have right now.

Her fear of hurting Tommy again was what had prevented her from ever wanting to pursue something more in the past, and now it was doing the exact same thing. For as long as she could remember Kimberly had always attacked her fears with a take-no-prisoners attitude; except when it came to Tommy. He was her one weakness, the one man she wanted and needed in her life above any other, but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't shake the fear of hurting Tommy like she had in high school a second time.

"Hey, Rocko!" yelled Adam from the recliner where Tanya sat with him, curled up against his side. "What time is dinner gonna be ready, bro?"

"When I put it on the table!" Rocky shouted back, earning a few laughs from his friends. "Perfection takes time, Adam. That's why I was born—"

"…two weeks later then you were supposed to be!" the group interjected, having heard this explanation from Rocky—who stared back at them, almost dumbfounded—more times than any of them cared to count.

"We know, Rocko. We know," said Kimberly, shaking her head.

With a roll of his eyes, Rocky scoffed. "Keep going like this, guys, and you'll all be lucky if dinner doesn't come to the front door in a box," he muttered jokingly, turning his back on his friends as he returned to his cooking.

Sharing silent looks with the others that conveyed his simple message, Tommy winked and began mouthing a countdown from three. At zero, he nodded once and the group all chorused, "We love you, Rocky!"

"Yeah, yeah," Rocky grumbled, waving them off dismissively. "You guys only say that when you're hungry."

Zack chuckled. "Look on the bright side, man; that's better than never hearing it at all!" he returned, getting laughs from his friends but only when he got smacked on the arm by Angela with a warning point of her finger for his efforts.

"Yeah, that's true. Man, I'm glad I don't know what it feels like to be you," Rocky countered, laughing as he started checking the food that was nearly done. A large honey ham, two different pies, a pan of cornbread stuffing and two dozen homemade rolls rested in the oven, while pots and pans of various other side dishes occupied all six of the kitchen's stovetop burners. "Alright, guys. Dinner's gonna be ready in about ten minutes. Someone might want to set the table and all that unless you guys plan on going caveman style tonight."

"I'll do it," Kimberly volunteered, Rocky nodding as he stirred a pot of simmering brown gravy.

"I'll help," Tommy added quickly. Rising to his feet, he smiled down at Kimberly and offered her a pair of helping hands. Taking his hands, Kimberly nodded and allowed Tommy to pull her up, both of them heading to the kitchen with ignorance to the grinning looks their friends all shared behind their backs.

Ten minutes later, just as Tommy and Kimberly were finishing setting the table and right when he had said it would be, Rocky was calling everyone to the dining room. For nearly two hours they ate and drank, corking and emptying four bottles of wine as they feasted like royalty on ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots in a brown sugar glaze, green beans coated in a parmesan-garlic butter, French onion soup, Caesar salad with homemade dressing and rolls hot and fresh from the oven.

By the time they'd finished devouring Rocky's pie—apple and blueberry with the same vanilla bean ice cream he made fresh in his restaurant—the others at the table were finding that moving more than a few inches at a time was quite the struggle.

Taking his last bite of apple pie Tommy set his fork down on his plate and leaned back in his chair with a sigh, his hands resting on his stomach. "Man, I don't even want to _think_ about how long I'm going to have to hit the gym to burn this all off."

"Yeah, but it's oh so worth it," Kimberly laughed, shaking her head. "I just feel bad for whoever's got to do the dishes."

Across from her, Zack rested his elbows on the table and his chin atop his hands as he looked to Kimberly and smiled. "You know, it's funny you should mention that, Kim. Seeing as how you and Tommy skipped out on dinner the other night, I was the one who took your place on dish duty with Aisha. And since tonight would have been my usual night, why don't you look at Adam and say hello to your new dish washing partner."

Kimberly opened her mouth for a reply but faltered, knowing she had very little room to wiggle her way out of this one. Still, having do to the dishes on a ridiculously full stomach was a small price to have to pay in exchange for what she knew would always be one of the most amazing and memorable nights of her entire life.

"Fine," Kimberly muttered, turning to Adam. "Let's get these done so we can do presents."

Adam nodded and with that they were up and on their feet, clearing away the plates and silverware from dessert and carrying them into the kitchen where the dinner dishes were already waiting for them. Unfortunately, such a big production meant there was at least twice the work in comparison to a typical meal. What usually took no more than ten or fifteen minutes turned into a near forty-minute effort made exponentially harder by the fact that they had to hand wash most of the pots and pans Rocky had used to cook since they didn't fit in the dishwasher with everything else taking up so much space.

It was nearly nine o'clock when the kitchen was finally clean, and by then the others had all moved to the front room opposite the foyer where they sat in various positions around a ten foot tall, fully decorated Christmas tree with a dozen wrapped presents beneath it. Every year the guys went into the woods on the first day of the trip to chop down a tree, but the process of decorating it was one that everybody engaged in with each of them bringing a few of their own ornaments from home.

Following Adam into the room, Kimberly found Tommy sitting in a chair next to the tree and started walking towards him. "You gonna be a gentleman and let me have the chair?" she asked with a smile.

Laughing, Tommy shook his head. "You're more than welcome to share it with me, though," he replied, winking as he patted his leg.

Kimberly rolled her eyes playfully but took her seat on Tommy's lap nonetheless, his hand slinking around her waist and pulling her in close to him. With her arm around his shoulders, she smiled contentedly as she looked around at all of her friends. "So who's going to be the one to start us off this year?"

Seated in front of the tree with Aisha in between his legs and his back against the chair that Adam and Tanya currently shared, Rocky took it upon himself to reach under the tree and randomly pull out a present. "Looks like," he started, inspecting the nametag, "Billy. Here you go, buddy."

Billy smiled and murmured his thanks as he took the package from Rocky and unwrapped a miniature version of the Space Shuttle _Discovery_, a vessel he'd played a large role in the creation of. "Most excellent," the original Blue Ranger exclaimed, holding up the box for his friends to see. "My thanks to whomever drew my name this year."

"Alright," said Rocky, reaching under the tree for another gift. "This one goes to…Tanya."

Wrapped in Adam's arms, Tanya smiled her appreciation as Rocky held the package behind his head for her to take. Seated across from them, Kimberly could tell by the way Tommy watched the former Yellow Ranger like a hawk while she opened her gift that he had been the one to draw Tanya's name for the exchange.

Pulling the wrapping paper away, Tanya furrowed her brow slightly when she looked down at the unmarked wooden box in her hands. Upon opening the box, however, her eyes gleamed in surprise. "Oh wow; these are incredible," she murmured, her hand covering her mouth. "I haven't seen anything like this in years."

"What is it?" asked Tommy casually, Kimberly suppressing the urge to smile.

"Oh, it's a couple different pieces of beaded jewelry. They look African, probably done by a tribe somewhere in Ghana by the look of it," Tanya replied, handing the box off to Rocky who briefly checked out the beaded necklace with a matching bracelet and earrings before passing it down the line. "If those actually came from Africa they're really rare. Seriously, whoever got me this year; thank you so much."

"Ya done good, Handsome," Kimberly whispered into Tommy's ear as she gave his shoulder a squeeze, Tommy remaining subtle with a simple and unnoticed nod.

"Okay, next up is," Rocky started, dipping his hand beneath the tree once more. Retrieving a present, he held it up and smiled. "Me."

Almost giddily he began ripping off the wrapping paper, raising a curious eyebrow at the white box marked _Messermeister _with a picture of a chef's knife on it. "Holy crap, it's got my name on it," he muttered, carefully withdrawing the eight inch blade. Sure enough, engraved in flowing red cursive on the handle were the words _Chef DeSantos_, then again in much smaller black letters at the bottom of the blade's thickest point. "This is so damn cool! Thanks to whoever," he continued, passing the knife off with the utmost care, unable to see the look of approval that Aisha sent Angela's way.

On and on they went like that, opening presents from one another until only two packages remained beneath the tree; well, technically one since the other was too big to fit under the tree. Oddly enough, those final two gifts were tagged for Tommy and Kimberly and were complete opposites in both size and shape. Where Kimberly's was small, no more than eight inches tall and four inches wide, Tommy's present was as big and bulky as a 1980's television.

"You can go ahead, Beautiful," Tommy murmured, gently rubbing the small of her back.

Giving Tommy a smile, Kimberly nodded and reached out to take the present that Rocky was currently extending to her. Something about the size and feel of the gift in her hands made her think it could have been fragile so she handled it with the utmost care as her fingertips slowly peeled the wrapping paper away.

"Oh wow; this is amazing," Kimberly murmured, shaking her head in disbelief at the tiny object resting in her lap. It appeared to be an ornament, presumably handcrafted considering the incredibly precise details of the figurine and its accessories that made it look strikingly similar to Kimberly. Dressed in a pink and white leotard she was in the midst of a back handspring atop a green base, three gold medals around her neck as she stared at the face of the helmet she'd worn as the Pink Ranger. "I…I honestly don't know what to say. I can't even begin to imagine how much work went into making this. Seriously, whoever did this, thank you so much."

Eyeing Jason across the room, Tommy smiled and nodded discreetly when his old friend tilted his head ever so subtly in Katherine's direction. It made a part of Tommy's heart warm to know that he, Jason, Katherine and Kimberly had all managed to remain such close friends despite all of the shakeups that had occurred in their relationships over the years.

"Okay, I'm not even going to try and hand this one off to you," Rocky laughed, looking from the present to Tommy with a shake of his head while simultaneously pointing to the gift. "Just get your ass up and open it over there."

Rolling his eyes, Tommy chuckled slightly as he regretfully pried himself away from Kimberly, setting her back down in the chair before crossing the room to where his present rested. Sure enough, when he tore the wrapping paper away he was left staring right at the oversized box of a Sony plasma television.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to open this only to find another box with ten more inside of it?" asked Tommy, eleven sets of eyes simultaneously turning to Rocky.

"What?" said Rocky, holding up his hands defensively. "That was _last _year, guys. Plus, I wouldn't do that to anyone except Adam just because I know how much it always pisses him off when I do."

The others just laughed knowingly as Tommy dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his key ring, using one of his keys to split the strip of duct tape keeping the box closed. Even though Tommy didn't know who had his name and Rocky had denied any shenanigans, he was almost disappointed when he looked inside the box and didn't find a smaller one. Nonetheless, that slightest hint of disappointment disappeared completely as soon as he saw what rested at the bottom of the box.

"Oh man," Tommy muttered, his eyes wide as he reached in carefully and extracted a framed painting nearly five feet wide and three feet tall. The painting had him at a severe loss for words; it was a near perfect replica of the picture he'd shown Kimberly with he and his dog Maggie, only now his five Ranger helmets surrounded them on the lawn. Wearing a contemplative expression, he handed the picture off to Rocky as he turned to look at Kimberly whose lips were spread in an impish grin. "Did you do this?"

Kimberly shook her head. "Nope," she answered, slowly pulling the photograph from her pocket and holding it up for him to see. "I just stole it from your wallet when you were asleep and gave it to the person who did."

Laughing, Tommy ran his hand through his hair as he looked around at his friends. "That is honestly one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. It's just…_wow_.I can't thank whichever one of you did this enough."

Everyone looked around, waiting to see if anyone was going to slip and reveal that it had been them, but the eleven faces of his friends all remained completely neutral. No one was going to tell him anything now, but he was almost certain that he could pry it from Kimberly once they were alone since she obviously knew who'd done it. That and the fact that he could now bribe her with the knowledge that Katherine had been the one to make her ornament.

"So what now?" asked Zack, Angela tucked in comfortably against his side.

Katherine smiled. "Now we clean up all this wrapping paper and put everything away, get in our comfy clothes, make some popcorn and watch _A Christmas Story._"

"Finally!" Rocky exclaimed, clapping for his victory five days too late.

And with that the group started to disperse, most of them going to their bedrooms with their gifts in hand while Adam, Katherine and Zack all carried armfuls of wrapping paper to the waste basket beneath the kitchen sink before heading off to join their significant others.

Following Kimberly into their bedroom Tommy smiled sadly when he saw all of their bags resting in the far corner, everything except that which they absolutely needed for the morning and what they were currently wearing already packed and ready to go. It was finality at its finest, surpassed only by the deflated feeling he got in the pit of his stomach every year upon the owner's Friday morning arrival to collect the keys.

"I can't believe that we're actually leaving tomorrow," Tommy murmured, shaking his head as he laid his painting down on the bed. "It really doesn't feel like we've been here for a whole week already."

Smiling, Kimberly nodded her agreement as she set her ornament down atop the oak dresser and opened the drawer where her pajamas lay next to tomorrow's outfit, those and the flip-flops near the door the only things she hadn't already packed. "Time really does fly when you're having fun," she shrugged, removing her jeans. "It seems like yesterday when you were picking me up at the airport.

Tommy laughed. "I was thinking the exact same thing earlier," he replied, Kimberly grinning as she pulled on her White Ranger pajama bottoms. Walking over to the dresser to retrieve his own pajama pants he used his hip to nudge Kimberly. "So, are you going to tell me who made my painting the easy way or am I going to have to tickle it out of you?"

Kimberly narrowed her eyes at him. "Neither," she answered. "I'm not telling you, and if you tickle me I'm _still_ not telling you, plus you won't get any tonight. I think it's a fairly easy choice, don't you?"

With a quiet chuckle Tommy slowly shook his head. "Well what if I tell you who made your ornament?" he asked, a slight hint of hopefulness in his voice.

He hadn't planned on having to use his trump card so early on, but Kimberly wasn't leaving him with any other options. Judging from the thoughtful look that she wore, however, it seemed that his doing so had been worth it. "How do you know who made mine?" she questioned.

"If I told you it would give it away. Sorry," said Tommy, smiling at her as he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "But I'm more than willing to tell you who made yours if you'll tell me who made mine."

Scoffing, Kimberly glared hard at Tommy as she folded her arms across her chest, engaging him in a brief stare down. "Fine," she muttered in defeated concession. "You tell me first and then I'll tell you."

Shaking his head, Tommy laughed. "Yeah, it doesn't work that way," he replied. "You're the type who will let me tell you, walk away without telling me and think it's funny. My conscience won't let me do that. All you'd have to do is give me your puppy dog eyes to make me break and you know it."

Laughing knowingly, Kimberly sighed. "Fine, it was Trini. She had a bunch of extra time at home on the days we went snowboarding and wasn't sure what to get you. She mentioned wanting to do some kind of painting that incorporated your passion for the Rangers and that's when I suggested the picture with Maggie. There, now you tell me who made my ornament."

As she'd been giving her explanation Tommy had changed into his pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt, all the while studying her facial features carefully. For as long as he could remember Kimberly's upper lip would twitch ever so slightly whenever she tried to lie. It was practically unrecognizable to most, but ever since they'd rekindled their friendship following the events on Murianthis he'd been able to read her in ways that were hovering on being inhuman.

"Katherine," he told her, knowing that she hadn't been lying to him.

"Really?" asked Kimberly in surprise, Tommy nodding. "Wow. I honestly didn't think Kat liked me enough to do something like that."

"What do you mean?" Tommy questioned, furrowing his brow.

Kimberly shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just kind of always thought that she only put up with me because of you."

Tommy grinned. "What gave you that impression?"

Again Kimberly shrugged, this time with a sigh. "Nothing, really. Honestly, it was probably more my own thinking then anything she did 'cause Kat has never been anything but warm to me. I guess in my mind I couldn't understand how she'd want to be my friend with all of the history that you and I have."

Laughing, Tommy shook his head. "Well, if you want the truth Kat really didn't like you for awhile. Even when she and I were together she knew that I still had feelings for you. The first couple of weeks after Murianthis were the worst."

"Why's that?" asked Kimberly with a curious expression.

"Because of the way I tried to free you from Maligore's control. When we still had the Zeo powers, Prince Gasket captured me and turned me into his personal warrior," Tommy explained, Kimberly nodding even though she'd heard this story before. Or at least she thought she'd heard it. What came next was a part of the story Tommy had never told her. "The other Zeo Rangers came to Gasket's arena to try and free me from his spell, but I wouldn't listen. It took Kat powering down and seeing the love she had for me in her eyes to break the spell. When I took my helmet off on Murianthis, it was me hoping the love in my eyes would have been enough to free you from Maligore."

Clearly taken aback, Kimberly moved to the edge of the bed and sat. "Wow," she murmured, the surprise etched on her face. "I mean, I'd kind of always figured that was why you took your helmet off, but I had no idea about Kat. Why did you always tell me that it was Jason who broke Gasket's hold on you?"

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Tommy shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. "I guess it's because for a long time I've always felt guilty about the situation between Kat and I so I've tried to avoid talking about it. It's really a terrible feeling to know how deeply another person cares about you while knowing you'll never feel as strongly, and part of me feels like I took advantage of that by staying with Kat when I couldn't give her the same love she gave me. She really is a sweet girl and I couldn't be happier for her now that she finally has someone to give her the love that she deserves."

Smiling, Kimberly nodded. "That's understandable," she replied, pausing briefly. "So what made Kat stop disliking me?"

Tommy laughed. "A couple months after we broke up she came to my place to pick up some of the things she'd left behind. We talked about pretty much everything and agreed that we still wanted to be friends; we'd been through too much not to be. You managed to come up in the conversation and I think she finally realized that the way she felt about me was the way I felt about you at the time. We kind of bonded over the fact that we both wanted people we weren't meant to be with. After that was when I think she finally decided that she was going to really make an effort to be your friend."

Grinning, Kimberly shook her head. "How is it that you find a way to stay friends with all your ex-girlfriends when most couples go their separate ways after breakups?"

"Not all my ex-girlfriends, Kim. Just the two who mattered enough to remain a part of my life," Tommy corrected, smiling at the way Kimberly expression noticeably perked up when he had said that.

Unfortunately for Tommy, he wasn't all that good at hiding his emotions either. Kimberly could practically see the urge written all over his face, the desire to take the conversation in a different direction starting to bubble over. With her elbows resting on her legs she let out a deep sigh.

"You want to talk about us, don't you?" she asked softly, looking deeply into his eyes.

Faltering for just the briefest of moments, Tommy swallowed hard and nodded. "You promised that we'd talk before the trip was over, and even though we're still staying together for a few more days _this_ trip still officially ends tomorrow morning. We don't have to have some full blown conversation about what's going to happen six months from now, there's just a few things I really want to talk to you about before we go to my parent's."

"Like what?" Kimberly questioned, deciding that now was as good a time as any even though she still wasn't entirely sure if this was a discussion that she was ready to have or not. Deep down, though, a big part of her already felt like she knew what the answer would be to the one question she expected Tommy to ask.

Knowing that this was the conversation he'd been waiting for made Tommy smile. "Like—" he started, only to be cut off when the sound of someone pounding on the bedroom door filled their room. "Yo, let's go!" Rocky yelled. "Everyone's downstairs waiting for you! We're starting the movie in two minutes whether you guys are down there or not!"

Tommy rolled his eyes in disbelief. "God dammit," he muttered under his breath, moving his eyes from the door to Kimberly. "I guess we're going to have to talk later, huh?"

Kimberly shrugged. "It's not like we've never seen the movie before. If you really want to we can stay up here and talk then go downstairs when we're done."

Though he appreciated her offer, Tommy knew that it was half-hearted at best. Their annual viewing of _A Christmas Story_ on the last night of the trip was a tradition and tradition, along with a slew of other invaluable life lessons, was something that all of the Rangers had come to appreciate through their time served regardless of how long their tenure had been.

"Come on," Tommy replied, beckoning her towards him with a wave of his hand. "We'll talk later."

Smiling appreciatively, Kimberly rose to her feet and immediately sought Tommy's embrace. "Before we pull out of that driveway tomorrow morning, I promise you that we will have our talk," she murmured.

Making sure that his face gave no hints to his disappointment Tommy just nodded his understanding, maintaining his contemplative silence as he took Kimberly's hand and started towards the bedroom door.

--

_The next morning…_

It was nearly ten o'clock and Tommy and Kimberly had yet to have the talk that she'd promised him the night before. After the movie they'd stayed downstairs for a little while longer, the result being that Kimberly fell asleep in his arms. Tommy had carried her to bed and gone to sleep disappointed, but with the morning still a possibility only to have her absent from bed when he'd woken up half an hour ago.

Standing alone in the shower as a steady stream of hot water washed down on him from above, Tommy couldn't help but to wonder why she was avoiding this conversation so steadfastly. It seemed like every time he wanted to talk to her she found a way to wiggle out of it and part of him was starting to get frustrated because of that. Tommy was always upfront; he expected the truth because he never shied away from giving it. Deep down he would have rather had Kimberly tell him she didn't want their relationship to go beyond their week each year then to have her continuously avoid talking about it like it seemed she was doing.

"_Did I do something wrong?"_ he thought to himself, looking back on the last week they'd shared together. Over the past seven-plus days the only thing he could think of that might have made Kimberly mad were his antics on the mountain the first time that they'd gone snowboarding. Even then, though, he knew that something so minute wouldn't be enough to make her run like he believed her to be doing. _"I feel like I've done everything that I could to make her see how much I really love her. She says she loves you too, but what if it's just not enough?"_

Tommy sighed, shaking those thoughts away as he squeezed a dollop of shampoo into the palm of his hand and started running it through his hair. Until he heard Kimberly say to his face that she didn't want a relationship he had to try and remain hopeful. He knew that he'd been winning her over little by little; now he just had to hope a little bit more, hope that the short time they'd spent together had been enough.

Some thirty minutes later he was walking downstairs with his backpack on and his duffel bag draped across his shoulder, the painting from Trini wrapped and tucked safely under his arm. He found everyone's bags in the room near the foyer, smiling sadly when he saw that the tree had already been undecorated and removed from the room. Musing that Kimberly must have taken his ornaments down and packed them in one of her bags, he set his things down near hers and then headed to the kitchen in search of the others.

"Nice of you to join us, Sunshine," Jason laughed, alone in the kitchen as he leaned against the counter while picking at a bowl of Cheerio's.

Chuckling, Tommy shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Yeah, well, better late than never, bro," he replied, opening the refrigerator and reaching inside for a bottle of water. "Where's everyone else at?"

"Living room," Jason answered in between bites of cereal, tilting his head to the right.

Side-stepping a few paces, Tommy peered around the corner and into the living room where he found the others sitting around talking with the television playing quietly in the background. His eyes met Kimberly's almost instantly and she smiled his way, but before he could see her beckoning him to join them he'd already returned his attention to Jason. If she wanted to avoid him then he was going to do the exact same thing, regardless of how childish that sounded when he actually thought about it.

"So you guys already took the tree down, huh?" asked Tommy, searching for anything to keep him in the kitchen.

Jason nodded. "It's down at the curb like every other year," he answered with a laugh. "And yes, before you ask, Kim took care of all your stuff."

"Cool," said Tommy casually, almost dismissively. "So what's the plan for you guys? When's everybody leaving?"

Jason smiled. "I'm glad you asked. I actually wanted to talk to you about that," he replied, Tommy rolling his eyes because a preface like that usually meant Jason was going to ask him to do something. "Do you think you and Kim could stay behind for like an extra half hour or so, just until he comes to pick up the keys? He's supposed to be here by eleven-thirty, but a van's coming at eleven to take Adam, Tanya, Billy and Trini to the airport in Sacramento, plus Kat and I have to take Rocky, 'Sha, Zack and Angela to the one in Reno before turning around and going back to Los Angeles."

Tommy seemed to debate this for only the briefest of moments before shrugging. "Yeah, I don't see why not. We don't really have to be at my parent's at any specific time."

"Sweet, bro; thanks. Everyone's keys but yours and Kim's are already hanging on the rack by the door," said Jason, Tommy nodding as the pair bumped fists.

Unfortunately for Tommy his old friend chose that moment to push himself away from the counter and start heading towards the living room. Not wanting it to seem like he was avoiding _all_ of his friends, he was left with little choice but to follow him. Luckily, Kimberly was on a couch that was already fully occupied with Rocky and Aisha on one end and Katherine on the other side.

"Oh, here you go, Tommy. Have a seat," said Katherine, smiling politely as she rose to her feet and crossed the room to where Jason was standing while unknowingly making her ex-boyfriend wince inwardly.

"Oh, um, thanks," Tommy muttered as he and Katherine crossed paths on his way to the couch. Settling into the seat next to Kimberly, he briefly looked her way but remained silent.

Turning to look at him and seeing the distance in his eyes, Kimberly furrowed her brow. "You're not even going to say good morning?" she asked, quietly so as not to cause a scene.

"Good morning," Tommy muttered nonchalantly, reaching behind her to get Rocky's attention via a tap on the shoulder. "What time's your flight leaving, man?"

Kimberly just stared up at Tommy in disbelief, unable to believe that he was just ignoring her like this for no apparent reason. Alas, she knew that now was not exactly the most appropriate of times to discuss it and so she tucked it away with a mental reminder to bring it up once they were alone.

As it turned out, her wait for them to be alone was not a very long one at all. It wasn't more than ten minutes later when they heard the a vehicle outside, the sound of its honking horn flooding the house.

"I believe that is for us," said Billy, looking around at the people he would be sharing a van to the Reno/Tahoe Airport with.

Gazing down at his watch, Jason nodded. "We should probably get going too, then."

There was a clear sense of sadness between them as everyone rose to their feet to say their goodbyes to their parting friends. Tears were shed amongst nearly everyone in the group, especially for those like Tommy who had understood the significance of this particular vacation before it had even started.

Shortly thereafter the taxi van and Jason's Suburban were pulling away from the house, everyone waving to Tommy and Kimberly who stood side by side in between jambs of the front door, close but not touching while returning the waves with bright smiles. As soon as the two vehicles had disappeared, however, those smiles did the exact same thing.

"What the Hell is your problem?" asked Kimberly angrily, whirling around to face Tommy as she kicked the door shut.

Scoffing, Tommy rolled his eyes. "My problem?" he questioned with a bitter laugh. "I don't have a problem, Kim. Oh, except for the one where you seem to be avoiding me like the goddamn Black fucking Plague!"

Standing with her hands on her hips, Kimberly shook her head and gave chase when Tommy turned around and started back towards the living room. "Me avoiding you?" she replied incredulously. "If I recall correctly you're the one who's been ignoring me since the moment you came downstairs!"

"That's because you made it pretty damn obvious that you didn't want to talk to me, Kim!" Tommy fired back, his fists clenched at his sides as she stared back at him with a confused expression. "Oh, don't give me that look; first you fall asleep after the movie and then you're already gone when I wake up this morning. I'd say you've made it perfectly clear that you don't want to have the talk you promised we'd have."

Kimberly stared back at Tommy in disbelief. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" she countered, shaking her head. "I'm sorry I got tired and fell asleep at one-thirty in the fucking morning like most normal people would! But don't blame me because your ass didn't wake up until almost ten o'clock! I was awake, dressed, packed and ready to talk at eight-thirty, but you were still sucking in the goddamn walls!"

Tommy narrowed his eyes. He knew he couldn't blame her for falling asleep, but if the part about her being awake at eight-thirty was true then he didn't have a leg to stand on. Considering that her upper lip had remained firm the whole time, he knew that the only person he could blame now was himself.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked in a much more calm and rational tone of voice.

Kimberly sighed. "Because, Tommy, I shouldn't have had to. I figured having our talk wasn't as important to you as you made it sound if you couldn't get out of bed until two hours before we were supposed to leave."

"Two and a half," Tommy murmured with a quiet chuckle. Eyeing Kimberly carefully, seeing her roll her eyes, his shoulders sagged in defeat. "I, uh, I guess I should apologize for acting like an ass for no reason, huh?"

Folding her arms across her chest, Kimberly nodded. "That would be a good place to start."

Wearing a soft smile, Tommy ran his hand through his hair somewhat nervously as he took a seat on the couch and raised his eyes to meet hers. "I'm sorry, Kim; honestly," he murmured. "I just…it scares me so much to know that I'm putting you on a plane in three days with no idea when I'm going to see you again. Before I could just look forward to next year's trip, but I'm not so sure if there's even going to be a trip at all next year."

Kimberly raised a curious eyebrow at that. "What are you talking about?"

"This was probably the last time that we're all going to be together like that, Kim. By this time next year Billy and Trini are going to have a ninth month-old baby. Jason and Kat are talking about starting a family as well, and who knows what the others are planning," he answered, shaking his head with a sigh. "Everyone's starting to move on to the next chapter of their lives: settling down, getting married, having kids; I'm not saying that I want those things right away, but it'd be nice to have something to look forward to."

"You're right," Kimberly murmured, almost in disbelief. "I never even thought of it like that, but you're right. Once people start having kids this trip is going to be pretty much impossible. Either that or not everyone's going to come anymore. No decent parent wants to bring their kids around a bunch of drinking and partying."

Swallowing the unwanted lump in his throat, Tommy nodded his agreement as he attempted to take their conversation in a different direction. "Do you forgive me for acting like an ass?"

Smiling, Kimberly nodded as she moved to sit next to him. Wrapping her arms around his, she laid her head against his shoulder and looked up at him. "I'm ready to talk now if you still want to," she said in a near whisper.

Tommy smiled softly, pecking a kiss to the side of her head. "Talk about putting a guy on the spot," he murmured, sharing a brief and quiet chuckle with Kimberly. Summoning all the emotional strength he could muster, he slowly reached out and took her hands. "Before I say anything, I just want you to know that I've thought long and hard about this, okay?"

"Okay," said Kimberly, nodding.

"Okay," he replied, swallowing hard once more. "When you moved to Florida I think we were both too young and emotionally immature and the circumstances made it almost impossible for a long-distance relationship to work. But we've also both grown up an awful lot since we broke up; we've come a long way and I really feel like we can make it work this time around if we just put in the effort and try. I love you, Kim; more than I've ever loved anyone, and I know that I'm willing to try as hard as I possibly can if you are too"

Slowly, Kimberly started to adjust her body until she was seated as close to Tommy as possible, his arm around her shoulders while hers encircled his midsection tightly, her head resting against his chest. "What happens if we try and don't work out again?" she murmured, her greatest fear slowly coming to light. "We managed to patch our friendship up once, but a second time? Part of me would almost rather not try then run the risk of possibly ruining our friendship somewhere down the line."

Tommy eyes narrowed as he looked hard at Kimberly, surprise etched all across his face. "I can't believe I just heard those words come out of your mouth," he muttered in reply, shaking his head. "The Kimberly I know would never _not_ try something just because she was afraid, even if it meant the possibility of failing which, to be honest, I don't think is going to happen when it comes to us."

Kimberly sighed. "What makes you so sure of that, Tommy?"

"Just look at our friends, Kim, how everyone but Zack has found their endgame in another Ranger. Do you know why that is?" asked Tommy, Kimberly shaking her head. "It's because for a relationship to really work both people have to be honest. One of the main reasons that Zack and Angela have stayed together is because we'd known her since high school and all agreed that our pasts were a secret we felt she could keep. Aside from you and Kat, every relationship I have ever been in has failed; usually for a bunch of different reasons, but one always remained the same, and it was because I couldn't let an outsider in on who I really was as a person, that piece of my past that's so much a part of I am. No relationship can work when you're keeping a secret like that."

Taking a breath, Tommy paused for just the briefest of moments before continuing.

"And when I say look at our friends, I mean really _look_ at our friends. Again, aside from Zack and Angela none of them really showed any interest in who they're with now when we were in high school and even for a few years after that. I guess you could make a case for Billy, but Trini really didn't start to care for him beyond a friend until after he'd come back from Aquitar in 2000. The point I'm trying to make is that we've all tried many times to find someone outside our circle, but our pasts will always prevent us from finding real happiness with someone who we can't share that history with."

Kimberly just smiled up at him. It was a nice speech, perhaps a bit on the unnecessarily long side, but it didn't really have the effect she assumed Tommy had hoped it would. "So you're saying the reason we should try again is because we used to be Rangers and can only date Rangers because of that?"

"No," said Tommy, shaking his head. "I think we should try again because we love each other. The fact that we were both Rangers is just one of the reasons I really feel like we would work out if we tried, along with a host of other things."

Gazing deeply into Tommy's eyes, Kimberly let out a sigh. "And if we try and don't work, what happens then? Your friendship means as much to me as your heart, Tommy, and I know you feel the same way. It sucks when we aren't friends and I don't want to lose you as a friend just because we didn't work out."

Smiling, Tommy reached out and gently tilted her chin up. "I don't want to lose you as a friend either, Beautiful. A strong enough friendship can withstand just about anything, though, and I honestly feel like the friendship you and I have is pretty damn strong. But like I said, I'm not planning on us _not_ working; and if for some reason we try and don't work, then at least we can still say that we gave it a shot. As long as we're honest with each other, I don't see us ever _not_ being friends. And I would rather try and fail then live the rest of my life wondering what would have happened or what could have been."

Never taking her eyes away from his Kimberly smiled as she slowly started to crawl her way onto his lap, her arms slinking around his neck. "So, Mr. Oliver, you really think we can make it, huh?" she questioned softly.

"Nope," said Tommy, smiling as he shook his head. "I know we can."

"You know we're going to have to do things differently this time around, right?" asked Kimberly, Tommy nodding while his hands slowly made their way to her slim waist. "No more forgetting to call each other or anything like that, and if there's a problem then we need to be up front with one another about it. Being five-thousand miles apart is going to be hard, at least until we get some things figured out, but I want to try and I feel like I'm ready to."

At that moment Tommy's oh-so-bright smile would have been powerful enough to illuminate even the darkest of rooms. Hearing her say the words, knowing that after seven years they were finally going to be more than just a fling, made him feel overjoyed in ways that simple words could not adequately describe. It was like everything—all the failed relationships and heartache, the miserable days and even lonelier nights—had all been worth it just to reach this one moment he'd waited so very long for.

"What was it that finally convinced you?" asked Tommy. It was a question that he just had to know the answer to.

The smile on Kimberly's face as she looked down at Tommy was just as big as his. "You," she murmured, kissing him softly. "All this time the only thing that had been holding me back was my fear of myself, wondering how I would ever be able to live with myself if I somehow hurt you like I had before. But then I realized that if anyone should have been afraid of me it was you, and that you wouldn't have wanted more if you were. I figured if you weren't afraid then I didn't need to be either."

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that," Tommy replied in a near whisper. With closed eyes he kissed her passionately, their mouths clashing rapidly as his hands started to slowly explore her body. "One more time before we leave?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Kimberly questioned, grinning down at him.

Fifteen minutes later, everything suddenly came crashing down just moments later in the simultaneous throes of two very loud and powerful orgasms. They held onto each other tightly, their bodies heaving as they slowly started to descend from nirvana when bad luck decided that it was time to intervene. It couldn't have been more than ten seconds after Tommy had finished when they heard the front door being pushed open.

"Hello!" the owned called out, stepping into the house as Tommy and Kimberly shared a momentary look of panic.

Words needn't be spoken; they'd barely had time to register what was happening before they were scrambling like crazy people, pulling themselves apart from each other as they dashed to find their clothes and dress before he found them. The last thing either of them wanted was to be caught in such a compromising position by someone they'd known for so many years.

Unfortunately, in her rush to find her outer garments Kimberly had forgotten all about the pink panties resting haphazardly on the couch's arm rest. They were simply lucky that Tommy had noticed them out of the corner of his eye, stuffing them into his pocket just as the owner entered the living room.

"Ernie!" said Tommy and Kimberly in unison, moving to greet the man who had played such a large role in the Rangers' development from the young men and women they were into the adults they had become today.

"Hey, hey!" Ernie exclaimed, smiling as he shook Tommy's hand and gave Kimberly a warm hug. Aesthetically he'd changed quite a bit over the years—he wore his hair shorter, ditched the Hawaiian shirts in favor of a more business casual attire due to his ownership of two successful restaurants in Angel Grove and Las Vegas, and he had trimmed well over two hundred and fifty pounds—but inside he was still the same warm hearted man who'd always been there to give them sound advice and a place to hang out with more free food and smoothies than any of them cared to count. "So how was it? Did you guys have fun?"

Looking down at Kimberly, Tommy smiled as he turned his attention to Ernie. "It was a blast as always," he answered with a nod. "Everything's been cleaned up and all the keys are hanging on the rack by the door. I know we say it every year, but thanks again for letting us use the house."

"Hey, no problem. Anything for you guys," Ernie replied, clasping each of their shoulders with the same big grin they could so visibly remember seeing every day back in high school. "So where are you heading now? Back home, I assume."

Kimberly shook her head. "We're actually going back to Angel Grove to spend Christmas with Tommy's family," she answered as Tommy retrieved his cell phone from his pocket to check the time.

"Yeah," Tommy interjected, nodding. "And seeing as how we have an eight hour drive ahead of us we should probably be getting going."

Smiling, Ernie nodded. "Of course. Come on, I'll walk you out."

Five minutes later Tommy and Kimberly were sitting side by side in Tommy's SUV, their things all loaded in the trunk as they prepared to depart. He'd just turned his key in the ignition when he felt his cell phone vibrating against his leg. Rolling his eyes, he pulled out the device and checked the caller ID screen.

"It's my mom," said Tommy, Kimberly nodding as he answered the call. "Hey, Mom…yeah, yeah, we're leaving right now…of course she's with me…okay, okay, hold on a sec," he laughed, extending the phone to Kimberly. "She wants to talk to you."

Kimberly just smiled and took the phone, bringing it to her ear as Tommy started to back down the driveway. And then, with one last look at the house, they were gone.

--

_Epilogue_

_Six months later…_

_Wednesday, June 21, 2006_

_Miami, FL_

_12:30 pm_

To say that the last month-plus had been stressful for Kimberly Hart would have been an incredibly vast understatement. She'd flown back and forth to New York three times in as many weeks to visit her goddaughter, Michelle Alexandra Cranston, and her parents. Her gymnastics academy was flourishing more so than ever before, but increased enrollment also dictated an increased work load for her and her staff. Not that she minded the extra work; more time at the school meant less time thinking about the man she loved more than anything and the five-thousand miles that separated them.

She'd thought about selling her school for awhile, moving back to California and starting over, but she just couldn't bring herself to sell; not when the academy had only recently started to get recognized after all the time and effort she had put into it over the years. Alas, it seemed to be a recurring trend in her life that everything would have been so much simpler if not for Tommy.

That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Her life may have been a lot less complicated without Tommy, but deep down she knew that she would never be as happy with another man as she was with him.

Over the last six or so months their combined efforts to keep their relationship going had increased exponentially in comparison to where they had been the last time they'd tried being together long distance back in high school. Nightly phone calls were a near regular occurrence now, and they exchanged emails constantly throughout the day. Tommy had even flown down during his spring break from school at the beginning of April to spend the week with her and Kimberly had done the same to be by his side when he accepted the school district's Teacher of the Year Award back in February.

As far as long distance relationships went, theirs was going as great as could be expected. Or at least it had been until Sunday evening when Kimberly had tried to call Tommy. She called both his home and cell phones, forced to leave a message when he hadn't answered either. He hadn't called her back that night, or the next day or the day after that, nor had he responded to the half dozen emails she'd sent over the last three days trying to figure out what was going on with him.

It wasn't like Tommy at all to go this long without contacting her and the fact that she didn't know what was happening—if he'd found someone else and was trying to avoid her or, God forbid, something bad had happened to him—only added more unwanted stress to her already hectic life. She wasn't as concerned with the former as she was with the latter; she just wanted to hear his voice, needed to hear it to know that he way okay.

Walking through a crowd of people down the streets of downtown Miami in a pair of black athletic pants and a light-pink tank top, she couldn't help but to let her thoughts drift to Tommy once more. He was on her mind constantly, the only thing she'd been able to think about recently as evidenced by the bruise on her the upper-inside of her left arm. She'd been going over a simple maneuver on the balance beam for one of her beginner classes, one she could have done in her sleep when she had lost focus and slipped.

Looking at the bruise, Kimberly knew how lucky she was that it had only been her arm to slam into the beam instead of her head. Unfortunately, it was pretty hard for her to care about her own well being when Tommy's was so prevalent in her mind. Letting out a sigh she tried her best to push those thoughts away as she entered a small, family owned restaurant on the corner of one of the biggest intersections in the downtown area.

"Hey, Kim. How are you?" asked the hostess, a seventeen year-old girl who happened to be the owner's daughter and a student at Kimberly's gymnastics school.

Kimberly forced herself to smile. "I'm good, Liz," she lied, not really seeing the need to dump her personal problems on one of her students. "Just stopped by to grab a quick bite on my lunch break. How are you?"

"I'm fine; just working," said Liz with a laugh, smiling as she retrieved a menu from underneath the desk she stood behind. "Just follow me and I'll take you to your table."

Nodding her understanding, Kimberly followed the young woman in silence and took her seat at a table in the back corner of the room, smiling her thanks when Liz handed her the menu and departed. Flipping it open she started to look through her choices. The restaurant served typical diner fare: burgers, sandwiches, salads and the like.

On most occasions she wouldn't have even needed the menu; she couldn't even remember the last time she'd ordered something besides a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye with a side salad, but right now "the usual" just didn't sound good. As she would soon find out, though, neither did anything else on the menu. The truth was that, despite the fact she could hear her stomach growling, eating was about the furthest thing possible from her mind.

When a cup of chicken noodle soup and a few packets of saltine crackers came to her table fifteen minutes later she knew that she had ordered it—along with the diet Coke sitting in front of her—but could barely remember doing so. It was like her body was on auto-pilot, just going through the motions of living and it was all because of Tommy.

"I just need to know that you're okay, baby," she whispered to herself, staring down into the bowl of golden liquid.

By the time the check came her soup was cold and practically untouched, the soda glass still full and now watery. Knowing that her school was the only where Tommy and his well being wouldn't be a constant invasion of her thoughts, she pulled a few bills from her pocket and set a ten on the table as she moved to leave. She'd barely taken five steps towards the door when she heard someone call out to her from behind, Kimberly turning around to see her waitress standing next to her table.

"I think you left this by mistake, Kim," said Jessica, the hostess's older sister and a student of Kimberly's as well, holding up the ten dollar bill her teacher had left behind.

Smiling, Kimberly shook her head. "I know I didn't really eat the soup, Jess, but I still want to pay for it."

Jessica laughed as she walked towards Kimberly and placed the money in her teacher's hand. "Someone else already paid for it."

Kimberly furrowed her brow, looking at her student with a confused expression. "What?" she questioned, Jessica nodding. "Who?"

The twenty-one year-old woman shrugged. "I don't know; some guy I've never seen before. When he handed me the money I asked if he wanted me to get you, but he said no. Something about not wanting to leave Maggie outside by herself for very long."

At that very moment absolute shock and disbelief filled Kimberly's eyes completely, her mouth hanging wide open. "D-did you just say M-Maggie?" she asked hesitantly as Jessica nodded.

Before Jessica could say anything, however, Kimberly was already running towards the door, but she froze as soon as she reached the glass barrier. Looking out on the sidewalk she stared at the corner light-post for just the briefest of moments before bursting through the door with all her might.

Leaning against the side of the large steel beam, his hand tightly grasping a white dog leash, from the corner of his eye Tommy was somehow able to notice Kimberly running towards him just in time to catch her in mid-air as she threw herself at him. Holding onto each other fiercely, Kimberly started to feel tears brimming in her eyes, part of her unable to believe that he was actually standing there.

Tommy was all smiles as he gently set Kimberly back down onto her feet. "Hey, you," he murmured, looking down at her with nothing but love in his eyes as he used his free hand to wipe a stray tear away from her cheek.

"Tommy, I—" Kimberly started, words escaping her as she shook her head slowly. "What are you doing here?"

The former leader of the Power Rangers chuckled, his smile never wavering. "Well, I figured that it would probably be a good idea to get to know the city I'm going to be teaching in come next semester."

"What?" Kimberly exclaimed, her mouth agape once more as everything started to click. "You mean…"

Tommy nodded. "There was an opening in the science department at Miami Southridge High a couple months back. I applied and had my interview over spring break, but I didn't want to say anything to you because I didn't want you getting your hopes up until I knew for sure if I was going to be getting the job or not. Needless to say, they called last month and now here I am."

"Is that why you weren't answering your phone or email?" asked Kimberly, noticing the leashed Golden Retriever for the first time. "Is this Maggie?"

Again, Tommy nodded. "Yep, she's usually not this calm around strangers though so she must really like you."

"Sounds like her owner," Kimberly retorted, winking at Tommy as they shared a laugh.

"You can pet her if you want to. She really digs it if you scratch behind her ears," said Tommy, Kimberly smiling as she dropped down in front of the dog. "And to answer your other question, yes; that's why I wasn't answering your calls or emails. I've been driving since Sunday and I just got into town last night. I would have called and told you, but I could barely keep my eyes open and I figured you'd appreciate the surprise."

"I still can't believe you're actually here," Kimberly murmured, beaming up at him as she played with Maggie. "Where are you staying?"

Tommy shrugged. "The Four Seasons for now. I'm just keeping my things in storage until I find something permanent. Well, most of them, anyway. I left a lot of the secret stuff with Hayley back in Reefside."

Kimberly's next move came without even the slightest bit of hesitation. Slowly rising up to her feet, she looked into Tommy's eyes with an expression that conveyed nothing short of the utmost seriousness. "Stay with me," was her whispered request as she reached out to take his free hand. "I've got plenty of space in my house."

"What, you mean like permanently?" Tommy questioned, caught off guard.

Smiling from ear to ear, Kimberly nodded. "I mean, only if you want to, of course," she replied.

Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, Tommy smiled brightly as he pulled her in close to him. "I would love nothing more than to do that, Beautiful," he murmured, tenderly pressing a kiss to Kimberly's forehead.

Standing on her tiptoes, Kimberly kissed him with all the love and passion she'd been building up inside since the last time they had seen each other two months prior. "Come on," she told Tommy, using her hold on his hand to tug his arm lightly as she started drifting back in the direction she had originally come from.

"Where are we going?" asked Tommy, one hand holding Kimberly's and the other grasping Maggie's leash as they walked side by side up the street.

"Back to my school so I can get my car," Kimberly answered, resting the side of her head against Tommy's arm.

"And after that?" Tommy questioned, looking down at her with a grin.

Smiling wickedly, Kimberly shrugged her shoulders noncommittally. "Let's just say that I wouldn't be making any important plans for the next few days if I was you."

Tommy just nodded his head and laughed as they began heading towards her school, knowing that they had more than two months of being apart to make up for. Walking hand-in hand, Kimberly looked up at Tommy and gave him a smile that said everything to him that her words could not. She was beyond elated, and though there was no way to predict exactly what the future had in store for them, that sense of complication that had plagued her life for so long just seemed to disappear into nothingness. It was, in a word…

Perfect_._


End file.
